Sadhana is a vocal and creative young person, currently on Boundless Theatre’s Advisory Group and a trustee of Rekindle School. Previously, she has worked with theatre companies such as the New Vic and Northern Broadsides. She is passionate about empowering young people.

Sadhana has been writing on Voice for over 4 years, after joining through Voice Outreach Young reviewer program at her local theatre.

Dayna joined the Upstart team back in 2021. As well as working with Upstart, Dayna works as the Company Administrator and Co-ordinator for multiple arts and creative organisations across the UK. Within Upstart, Dayna specialises in improving the smooth running of the organisation and ensuring young people can experience more opportunities in their area.

One of our youth voice trainers, Sam is an aspiring author, theatre and dance lover, Liberal Arts graduate and total bookworm.

With three years’ experience volunteering for and running a university-based suicide-prevention helpline, Sam is also a fierce advocate for mental health awareness.

When she doesn’t have her head buried in a book, you can usually find her cooking yummy vegan food, volunteering with various charities or planning her next trip! Sam is a prolific reviewer of arts on Voice Magazine, a leading voice reporter and a part of the team influencing Voice’s development.

Idriss joined Upstart as a Voice Contributor eight years ago. He also joined our pool of young advocates for Arts Award and has been highly involved in many areas of our work over the years, including filming or starring in multiple films. He currently works on various commissions and as a co-trainer.

He is a freelance film maker, editor and producer working on and supporting a range of film & arts education projects; including training groups in using film equipment. He has worked extensively with Birmingham based organisations and can usually be found somewhere near a camera or edit suite.

His aim is to produce more films with diverse and unique stories about those who sometimes don’t get a voice to tell their own stories in their own way, and be as creative as possible and help others follow their creative passions.

Judy has been working within the arts and education sectors for over 20 years, developing creative learning, partnership practice and youth consultation work.

She is a lead trainer, creative pathways project manager and project associate with us. Judy is also an Arts Award senior centre monitor and trainer for Trinity College London and works across a variety of sectors including arts & culture, education and youth & community, developing the award for children & young people and working across the breadth of the arts.

Judy has been involved in regional and national programmes including Local Cultural Education Partnerships, Artsmark and developing Arts Ambassadors, both teachers and pupils, in schools. She is a freelance creative consultant with a deep passion about creative learning for children & young people.

Sienna has been working with Upstart for several years, including on our young advocacy team for Arts Award. She is a trainer on our youth voice training programmes and was previously Assistant Editor at Voice magazine and is passionate about arts inclusion and creative education. She’s a graduate of the MA in Conflict Resolution at King’s College London and works with NPOs in research and communications.

Alice is on of our youth voice trainers having originally joined the Arts Award Youth Network in 2012. She has degrees in Dance and worked for Artswork, the national youth arts development agency and South East Bridge organisation. She is an Arts Award adviser trained to Silver level, a dancer, knitter and thinker!

Alice regularly runs training and sessions to support arts development and mental health. Recently she has worked in consultancy and young people’s support for NHS commissioned services across West & East Sussex. She’s also worked for eight years with the Isle of Wight Festival as an Artist Liaison and Young Volunteer Manager.

Tom is a founder member of the Arts Award Youth Network and Voice magazine, having worked with both projects since he was 17. He achieved First Class Honours in Politics at Brunel University and a Masters in Journalism. His hobbies include podcasting and music and he leads Voice’s very successful Edfringe Young Reviewers project.

Tom is a 2023 Clore Emerging Leader and digital content creator for numerous organisations.

Emrys has been involved with youth participation projects for over 15 years. Among his wider business experience Emrys has led the development of the Arts Award Youth Network and Voice website since 2011. He holds an Executive MBA, degree and licentiateship in Management with skills in project planning, financial management and people development. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership where he is also the Chair of the Board. Emrys is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.

Specifically on training, Emrys was a senior trainer with the Participation Works Partnership creating bespoke courses for local authorities and NGO’s. He has managed numerous training programmes for young people, cultural organisations and third sector organisations including in events management accredited through Arts Award and a programme with South Essex College for NEETs accredited by NCFE.

Emrys designs our bespoke training programmes, leads our research & consultancy work, and supports the team for effective engagement.

Diana has spent thirty years working in arts education, including community arts, Theatre in Education and youth arts. She took her experience of running Shropshire Youth Arts Network to Arts Council England, where she developed the Arts Award, a UK-wide programme which supports young people to develop as artists and arts leaders. Diana’s skills are in strategic planning, communications and negotiation and she brings wide-ranging experience of developing arts opportunities for young people.