Clare Cook joined Future Talent on 1 December 2022, bringing her wealth of experience in the music education sector and expertise in strategic leadership, fundraising and communications.

Much of Clare’s professional life has been spent in leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector from Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and Missing People to the London Gay Men’s Chorus and Soundabout, a national charity which uses music to give a voice to people with profound learning disabilities, creating musical communities without barriers.

Her belief in the life-changing power of music led to the creation of a network of 14 Soundabout Inclusive Choirs in partnership with music education hubs across the country. The choirs welcome people of all abilities to make music together, celebrating that everyone has their own unique way of sharing their voice. While at the charity Missing People, she co-founded the Missing People Choir of families with missing loved ones and supporters, who reached the finals of Britain’s Got Talent 2017, which brought global attention to the issue of missing people, and resulted in two people coming home to safety.

Clare said: “I’m thrilled and honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead the incredible organisation that is Future Talent. The charity’s mission is so important and because of the cost-of-living crisis, the need has never been greater. I believe that driving forward the equity, diversity, and inclusion agenda is critical to ensuring an equal reality and will work to ensure that this continues to be at the heart of Future Talent’s strategy.”