Music Business Management MA student and Richard Antwi Scholar Esther Lenda Bokuma has shown her continued support for young emerging music artists to create a more inclusive music industry through an extensive variety of projects and educational trajectories.
Esther is the recipient of the Richard Antwi Scholarship, which aims to continue Antwi’s legacy by supporting black and minority ethnic students on the Music Business Management MA course to realise their full potential. She received this accolade for her efforts to build a more vibrant and inclusive music industry.
She began her journey supporting young artists when she was headhunted to be a Course Leader for a talent development programme focused on black music genres. This allowed her to extend her skills as a former French teacher, combining her passion for music with education. The Music Business Management MA course at Westminster proved to Esther how important music education is and she was able to utilise her knowledge from the course in the wider music industry to support young emerging artists.
Esther is also a Trustee of the music charity Sound Connections, which aims to empower organisations to deliver quality music-making with young people and is involved in producing educational events such as masterclasses and roundtable discussions. She has also participated in a variety of webinars during lockdown to help music educators and young people around the UK kickstart their careers through facilitating discussions and giving professional advice. One webinar highlighted the career barriers young people face such as gender and ethnic parities and stressed the need for transparency in an industry that is commonly based on personal connections.
Her continued work for the Black Lives Matter movement furthers her commitment to this cause. She shared her experiences online of the inequality that black women experience in the music industry as part of The Show Must be Paused movement, stressing how women of darker skin tones should not be erased from the conversation. As a result of her thoughts being shared widely on social media, she was invited onto an industry panel hosted by Music Ally. She joined influential Artist Manager Keith Harris MBE and Vice President of Business Affairs at Kobalt, Mulika Sannie, to talk about her experiences in the music business as a darker skinned black woman and independent artist.
Talking about her experience at Westminster, Esther Bokuma said: “My experience at Westminster has not only been my best experience of higher education, but also the most robust Music Business course that I have undertaken.
“I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to study this Masters program, as well as having the time to focus on my dissertation, which discusses the experiences of Black British Women in Music at the Intersection of Afrofuturism and Technology. This would not have been possible without being awarded the Richard Antwi Scholarship, and having the support of the committee and my Course Leader Sally-Anne Gross. I have been challenged to further grow my competences, historic understanding of this industry and have become more confident in myself.
“Coupled with my previous experiences over the last 5 years as an R&B and Jazz Artist and in leadership roles in the London youth music space, I'm extremely empowered by what I have achieved over the past year both academically and professionally. I'm excited to continue to build on this moving forward!”
Find out more about Music courses offered at the University of Westminster.
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