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Sarah McBriar
Founder & Creative Director at AVA & UP
Sarah McBriar is the Founder & Creative Director of AVA & UP Productions, specializing in large-scale festival and conference creation, production design, and programming across the audio and visual arts sector.12 She founded AVA (Audio Visual Arts) Festival in June 2014, which has been described as "one of the world's most exciting electronic music festivals" by Mixmag.2
Professional Background
- AVA Festival: McBriar launched AVA in 2014, which has become a significant event in the electronic music and visual arts scene.2
- UP Productions: She also founded UP Productions, an experiential creative agency that designs and executes large-scale events and brand activations.2
- Industry Recognition: In 2024, she was nominated for the title of 'Underground Hero' in DJ Mag's Best of British Awards for championing grassroots UK music communities.1
Education and Mentorship
- McBriar holds a Master of Arts in Creative Producing from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she graduated with First Class Honours.2
- She completed her Bachelor of Science in International Management with North American Business Studies at The University of Manchester.2
- Since June 2021, she has been serving as a Creative Entrepreneur Mentor at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.2
Other Roles and Achievements
- Guest Lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama since May 2016.2
- Received the Commercial Education Trust (CET) Fund in 2014, being the first creative producer to receive this award.12
- Member of the Belfast Music Steering Group that secured UNESCO City of Music Status for Belfast in 2021.1
- Active lobbyist during the pandemic for government support for the music and events industry.1
Sarah McBriar's career spans over 12 years in the live entertainment, events, and cultural sector, focusing on concept creation, production design, producing, and fundraising for festival and conference development.1
Highlights
In three days we will be hosting our last AVA LND at Printworks London, with the show sold out and the last conference passes remaining (https://lnkd.in/eKR4yjqC), this will be a special end to an incredible venue partnership with Broadwick Live featuring Keynotes, Workshops, AV & Live Shows across the day and night.
DMY has produced this lovely feature, highlighting what not to miss > https://lnkd.in/e-Z-n82F
