Published: 20 Jul 2023
Gill Eliver (Uninvited) and Mark Tremaine
Scottish Black music creators and industry professionals are gaining individually tailored professional support, thanks to a long-term initiative designed to increase Black representation, empower and advocate for Black talent and industry professionals.
Glasgow based musician, Gill Eliver (Uninvited) and manager, promoter and activist, Mark Tremaine from Edinburgh are among 40 people across the UK to join this year’s POWER UP Participant Programme.
Founded in 2021, the Programme is led by PRS Foundation and backed by a dense network of like-minded fellow industry partners, including Creative Scotland, with a commitment to accelerate change by breaking down barriers to create a fairer, more equitable music industry, to achieve better representation in all sectors of the UK music industry, and to amplify the work of Black creators and industry professionals. The programme is specifically designed to fit the needs of the participants, assisting in the development of their careers and practice, and to break through glass ceilings and accelerate change across the industry. Support includes grants of up to £15,000 alongside capacity building masterclasses, mentoring, coaching, mental health and wellbeing support, and access to added value support from POWER UP Partners and a peer network.
Creative Scotland’s Head of Music, Alan Morrison commented: “Partnering with PRS Foundation on the POWER UP programme is helping to open doors for Black music creators and industry professionals in Scotland, leading to better representation and visibility. The Scottish sector is already richer due to Uninvited and Mark Tremaine’s achievements, and POWER UP will place their work – and Scottish music in all of its diversity – in a brighter spotlight.”
Gill Eliver is part of a four-piece rock band Uninvited from Glasgow, who formed during lockdown of 2020. Starting out as an acoustic singer/songwriter, Eliver knew her main goal was to play in a rock band as she “never saw people like me playing the music I grew up listening to.” Since forming, the band has performed across the globe, winning the BBC Radio 1 live lounge competition in 2022 and headlining the BBC Music Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds, and touring with bands such as Crawlers and Nova Twins.
Mark Tremaine is founder and director of TBS. Entertainment, a music-management and production company based between Glasgow and London. Spanning a two-decade career, this multi creative started out as a songwriter/producer in the 90s at Chrysalis which led him to Germany and New York where he toured and opened for Jay Z, Beverley Knight and collaborated with Raphael Saadiq and Monie Love. Amongst other achievements, in 2020 Tremaine co-founded The African Caribbean Society of Scotland. This trailblazing activist has now set his sights on the Scottish music scene tackling the various barriers faced by Black Artist’s in diverse musical genre. This approach to dismantling obstacles has led to The Pisconian’s debut EP, Jazz in the Burgh which looks to broaden to diversity in the Scottish Jazz scene.
Senior POWER UP Manager, Yaw Owusu said “We are really excited to welcome the Year 3 cohort to the POWER UP family. All of whom are doing such stellar work in their various disciplines and sectors. We are looking forward to adding value to that work and their careers via the POWER UP programme and connecting them with the rest of the ever-expanding POWER UP network.”
Mark Tremaine and Gill Eliver (Uninvited) join Bemz (DJ Mag Award), Becky Sikasa and Mobolaji Agor, Sami Omarm and TAALIAH supported in the first two years of the programme carving out the new sounds of a modern Scotland.
Sami Omarm, CEO, producer and artist manager from Scotland’s music platform, Up2Stndrd, was supported in Year 1 along with TAALIAH, an award-winning Black Trans DJ and producer working at the frontier of pop and electronic music revitalising both genres. Since taking part in POWER UP TAALIAH received the AIM Award in 2022 for Best Independent EP/Mixtape. Their 2021 album release Angelica continues to gain critical acclaim and they have been nominated for Breakthrough Artist/DJ at the DJ Mag Awards.
Bemz, Becky Sikasa and Mobolaji Agoro wereamong the recipients supported in Year 2. Having recently performed at Scotland’s biggest festival, TRNSMT, Glasgow based rapper Bemz has gone onto achieve great things since taking part winning BBC Radio Scotland’s Act of the Year last year and DJ MAG Breakthrough MC of the Year in 2022. He has recently signed to Live agency, Marshall.
Find out more about the Year 3 Participants.
For further informationabout Gill Eliver (Uninvited) please visit Facebook; Instagram; Twitter; TikTok; Spotify and Apple Music.
For further information about Mark Tremaine please visit: Website; and Instagram.
POWER UP was co-founded in 2021 by PRS Foundation and Ben Wynter and is managed by PRS Foundation in partnership with YouTube Music, Beggars Group, Spotify and the Black Music Coalition. Supporters including Creative Scotland, Believe, Simkins, Creative Wales, Arts Council of Wales, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, plus AIM, the BPI, the FAC, The Ivors Academy, the MMF, the MPA, MPG, The Musicians’ Union, PPL, PRS for Music and the PRS Members’ Fund, as well as Associate Partner, Daft Springer, who each bring added-value support to POWER UP Participants.
POWER UP has now received over 1,200 applicationssince it was launched in February 2021, withapplications from 848 Black music creators and 355 Black industry professionals at crucial career stages. The demand for a fairer and equitable music industry is now huge, and POWER UP is proving to be a vital initiative. Over £12.8m of grant support has been requested through POWER UP alone across three annual deadlines – with PRS Foundation and funding partners investing over £1.1m into participants’ projects alongside invaluable holistic support.
PRS Foundation supports outstanding talent from all backgrounds, covering the whole of the UK and all genres, with grantee success stories including Little Simz, Wolf Alice, Dave, Sam Fender, Years & Years, AJ Tracey, Anna Meredith, Yola, Glass, Animals, Ezra Collective, Jade Bird, Ghetts, Shiva Feshareki, Sarathy Korwar, Floating Points, Nadine Shah, The anatix, Imogen Heap, IDLES, Kae Tempest, Kojey Radical and Emily Burns. Widely respected as an inclusive, collaborative and proactive funding body, PRS Foundation supports an exceptional range of w music activity through direct grants to music creators and through support for pioneering organisations, including venues, festivals, promoters and other talent development organisations. PRSFundation founded the Women Make Music fund, co-founded global gender equality initiative, key change and most recently launched the POWER UP initiative to tackle anti-Black racism in music. For further information please visit: www.prsfoundation.com
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery. Further information at creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more about the value of art and creativity in Scotland and join in at www.ourcreativevoice.scot
