Westminster’s Black Music Research Unit partners with African Music Summit for London event

The African Music Summit (AMS) is held annually and celebrates Africa’s diverse and influential Music industry, with its founder, Ike Onuorah, being a Westminster alumni and one of Mykaell Riley’s former students. The event welcomes an array of industry leaders and music enthusiasts from across the globe each year to learn more about the industry’s international presence and explore new ideas and technologies that can help the industry continue to grow and thrive.

The theme of the summit, which was held between 24-25 November, was Leveraging Our Cultural Equity, From the Streets to the Boardroom. The in-person event included a range of panels that explored the industry’s significant growth thanks to national and international investment which has supported business, education and culture. Topics included the strategies for artistic success in the digital age, the role of festivals in African Music and how business education and entrepreneurship can act as a catalyst for Pan-African Transformation. With such a range of entrepreneurs, music fans, industry professionals and potential investors, the two-day summit sparked illuminating debate and conversation and created work placement for current music students. 

Westminster’s Black Music Research Unit partnered with the AMS to deliver their first UK panel discussion on the UK music industry’s relationship with African popular music. The panel took a deep dive into EDI in Africa and explored its intricacies through the lens of Africa and the British music industry. The panel was chaired by Mykaell Riley, Reader, Director for the Black Music Research Unit (BMRU) and Principal Investigator for Bass Culture Research at the University of Westminster. He was joined by a range of industry professionals who looked at how to make a positive change and achieve financial growth through EDI in global music. They discussed the EDI systems that have been put in place, the role of EDI initiatives in Africa and uncovered the best ways to implement best practices in EDI across African and British music industries. 

About the event Riley said: “The world is a much smaller place when you’re connected to a global community and this is what the PPL/ AMS represented, a continent in one room. I found networking between London and Africa seamless, pleasurable and effective.”  

Find out more about Music at the University of Westminster.

 Photo taken by Strictly Entertainment Music