CITIZEN OF HONOUR

In a lovely formal civic ceremony at the Town Hall last night it was brilliant to see Yaw Owusu receive a Citizens of Honour award alongside a small number of other city luminaries.

I’ve had the good  fortune to work with Yaw for over a decade now and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as passionate about supporting young artists and music business entrepreneurs and doing everything he can to help them have a successful career in the music industry. I’ve witnessed this dedication at close quarters through his work on the LIMF Academy programme where he has worked closely at different times  with Chloe, Kate, and Sue from the Culture Liverpool team to deliver what is to my mind the best  and most diverse talent development programme in the UK. It’s easy to point to the successes of artists like Jalen NGonda, Ni Maxine, Koj,  Michael Aldag and others who have come through the programme. But  for me the real value is in the fact that everyone who has been on the Academy still see Yaw as a mentor and continue to seek guidance and advice from him years after they have officially ‘left’ the programme.  Koj, Superlate and Tonia, all Academy alumni are playing the Big Weekend in May which is a testament to Yaw’s work.

Through his work with Power Up and other work across the country Yaw has become a well known, much sought after and well regarded figure in the UK music industry.  But despite this national profile  his real passion and focus  is still for Liverpool and in particular what needs to be done to support the further  development of  the black music industry infrastructure in the city region.

In his acceptance speech last night Yaw said  there was still much to be done and he wants to play a big role in taking things forward. You can be sure that Yaw will continue to play a crucial part in the city’s music scene but for now  let’s finish with big congrats on a well deserved award.

Written by Kevin McManus, Head of Liverpool UNESCO City of Music.