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Professor Stephanie Pitts is one of SPARC’s founders and now leads the consultancy team. Her research and teaching interests are in musical participation, concert audiences and music education, and in the qualitative research methods used to understand people’s uses of music in their everyday lives. Stephanie has recently completed a three year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council on Understanding Audiences for the Contemporary Arts, working with arts organisations to understand the place of arts engagement and attendance for audiences across four UK cities.

Dr. Ioanna Filippidi, is an experienced quantitative and qualitative researcher who has held post-doctoral roles at the University of Sheffield and the Royal Northern College of Music. Ioanna has previously conducted audience research in public venues, such as her recent project investigating the experience of earworms after live concerts, collaborating with and collecting data from the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Her most recent postdoctoral project, is funded by the Centre for Cultural Value in Leeds, and is a collaboration with the MANCS research group and Manchester Camerata, investigating audience experiences in live and recorded music. 

Marketing and Administration 

Katy Jayasuriya is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield, researching critical editions and Hollywood and Broadway musicals. She has a background in digital marketing for media brands: developing digital strategies, executing marketing campaigns, and managing commercial partnerships.