New Trustees

In November, The Multi-Story Orchestra welcomed two brand new members to our Board of Trustees, Chico Chakravorty and Adele Cross. Below they tell us a little about themselves and why they’re excited to work with us!

We’re so excited to welcome Chico to the position of Chair of Trustees.

Chico joins us with over 15 years of professional leadership across numerous sectors. Chico started consulting with a diversity and inclusion recruitment and consultancy firm as their Managing Director, to make a difference to both clients and candidate experience around diversity and inclusion initiatives. Chico completed his MBA at Durham University Business School focusing on management consultancy and leadership culture.

He founded Doing Diversity Differently, which looks to deliver diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives in an agile and innovative way. There he acts in the capacity of lead consultant regarding culture change and employee engagement, a thought leader on diversity and inclusion topics, as well as working as an associate delivering team coaching to multinational organisations to help boost innovation.

Also a keen violinist, Chico plays with different chamber groups and orchestras (performing with the newly established UKLGBT+ Symphony Orchestra). He is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for a South Asian Dance Company; is a Mentor for the LGBT+ charity Just Like Us; is a Role Model for Diversity Role Models; and is a founding member and Strategic Board Advisor of the LGBT+ philanthropic group Out For Good. He is delighted to be appointed as the Chair of Multi-Story Orchestra to help widen access to who orchestral music is made by and made for.

“As someone who has constantly found himself at the intersection of loving orchestral music but yet often finding myself looking pretty unique either on stage or in audiences, I wanted to help Multi-Story Orchestra to truly be a part of a new stage in terms of making this type of wonderful and rich music accessible to so many more people. I’m really excited to work with a phenomenal artistic, administrative and performance team help those many more people enjoy the music that I love so very much.”

We’re delighted that Adele joins us as Vice-Chair.

“I owe it all to my good friend, Jo. She asked me along to my first Multi-Story Orchestra gig back in 2016 and that combination of extraordinary performances in ordinary spaces captured my imagination. I’ve been a fan ever since.”

With 20 years’ experience as a programme maker at the BBC — from music radio to long form speech content, BBC TV to BBC Learning, and working on BBC’s youth output — Adele has gained a robust knowledge of the concerns and lifestyles of young people. In addition, her experience in live music production, workshop facilitation and youth work will equip her to be a useful player on the board. Beyond her professional capacity at the BBC, Adele has also sat on the board of governors for primary schools. As a foundation governor, Adele worked alongside other leaders in the team to oversee the financial performance of the school, setting its vision, strategy, policy, budgeting and staffing.

In addition to this, she runs and directs a youth gospel choir and has done so for more than 10 years. The ages range from 18 – 28 and she says it has been a source of pride to watch these young people grow and develop.

“Now that I’m a member of the family, I’m thrilled to play a part in adding to its success and futureproofing the company in an ever competitive landscape. We’re ten years in and I’m convinced that the best is yet to come. This is a great team; talented, passionate and visionary. I’m excited to see how I can contribute to the ongoing success of The Multi-Story Orchestra.”