Meet our Board of Trustees

David Sulkin OBE

Director of Artist Development,

National Opera Studio

Throughout his career, David has played a leading role in arts education. Roles include, Director of the Royal Court Young People’s Theatre, Co-founder of the Baylis Programme at English National Opera, Director of Policy and Programmes at Youth Music, Chief Executive of Help Musicians UK and currently Director of Artist Development at the National Opera Studio, where he is leading on a special programme to increase access to training for the opera stage called Diverse Voices.

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He helped establish the International Festival of Young Playwrights in Australia and has worked extensively in the Czech Republic, directing plays and operas. He was Associate Director of Janáčkovy Hukvaldy - the Janáček Festival in the composer’s home village in Northern Moravia and is currently special advisor for learning and participation at the National Theatre of Prague.

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While at Youth Music, David led on the campaign to reintroduce singing in primary schools which led to the publication of the ground-breaking Singbook followed soon afterwards by the National Singing Programme which became Sing Up.

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David has worked a trustee for many organisations including, Chair of governors at Clerkenwell Parochial School, Chair of the Cripplegate Foundation, Chair of the North London Children’s Choir and trustee of the Association of Charitable Organisations and is delighted to be chair of the Sing Up Foundation.

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David was awarded an OBE in HM The Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2014. His interests include motorcycling, sea-bathing, Russian language and culture and the history of early recording.

Michelle James

Chief Executive, Sing Up

A singer and violinist, Michelle originally trained as a musician and has a degree in music and English literature. She has a 27-year professional background within UK-based music education organisations including conservatoire Trinity Laban, the international music exams board ABRSM, The National Foundation for Youth Music - a lottery funded music charity for disadvantaged young people - and most recently, school music education provider Sing Up.

Under Michelle’s leadership Sing Up provides songs and resources to support singing in schools. Sing Up has a deep commitment to every child having the opportunity to experience high quality singing as a regular part of school life because of the many educational, developmental, societal and health benefits this brings. In 2018, Michelle wrote The Singing School Handbook which is published jointly by Faber Music and Sing Up.

In 2017, Sing Up created the Sing Up Foundation, a charity which focuses on singing for child and adolescent mental health. Michelle is on the Board of the Sing Up Foundation and also of the UK’s Music Education Council.

Charlotte Law

Learning Executive, Sing Up and facilitator

Charlotte has worked for Sing Up since 2014 as Learning Executive and also sits on the board as a trustee of the Sing Up Foundation. With a degree in Arts Education, she has built up a wide range of experience as a workshop facilitator, freelance arts animateur and trainer. As part of her Sing Up role she creates content for the website, leads CPD and works alongside Music Education Hubs to support the delivery of their singing strategies.   

In her time as a qualified primary school teacher and music coordinator Charlotte worked in EYFS through to Key Stage Two. She also works as a freelancer for a number of arts education organisations and theatre companies and teaches for several local Music Hubs.  

She is passionate about the arts and young people. When not singing she can be found at the beach as she’s a big fan of open water activities and wild swimming. 

Dr Andrew McWilliams MBBS MRCPsych AFHEA

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Researcher, University College London, Kings College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital

After an undergraduate degree at Cambridge University, Andrew studied medicine at Barts and the London Hospitals, winning the Strauss Prize for Psychological Medicine. Training in psychiatry followed at the Maudsley Hospital and Great Ormond Street/the Royal London, and he is now a specialist registrar in a child and adolescent psychiatry.

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His current research straddles neuroscience, law and ethics, investigating notions of autonomy, self-determination and metacognition – or a person’s ability to reflect on their own thought processes. He is particularly interested in developing gamified measurement techniques and has been involved in a number of science public engagement projects using the arts.

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His clinical work is at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, in the Tourette Syndrome service, where he also has a research interest in functional illness. He was awarded an Annual Meeting Senior Researcher Award from the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2019.

Dr Jeremy Sleith

Head of Music Service, St Helens MBC

Jeremy has worked as the Head of St Helens Council Music Service since its inception in 2008. Previously he held senior roles within Stockport and Suffolk Music Services and has much experience of instrumental and curriculum leadership and teaching over a 30+ year career. 

He gained a PhD in education research investigating how a service could create a Wider Opportunities programme that considered its participants as musicians and the class as a band or orchestra from the first lesson. He has also been instrumental in setting up a Music Education Hub Alliance across the Liverpool City Region and the Local Cultural Education Partnership for St Helens. Over the past few years, Jeremy has become passionate about the role that music and the arts can play in the lives of young people. He is an advocate for a broad and balanced school curriculum that supports the intellectual and emotional growth and understanding in all young people. More recently, he has become a keen advocate for the use of the arts as therapy and is currently developing a number of arts on prescription models to support young people's wellbeing.

Motje Wolf

Senior Lecturer in Education (Music),

De Montfort University

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