WHO WE ARE
OUR BOARD
Sing Inside is run by a small but passionate team of volunteers. Get in touch with our friendly team if you have any questions or would like to find out more.
Despite being entirely volunteer run our teams work tirelessly to ensure we have professional standards and structures in place, ensuring our governance, security and workshops are all of a high standard. We elected our first board in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. Our trustees have a range of skills and backgrounds, but share a passion for our mission to provide meaningful creative opportunities in prisons across the UK.
We will usually advertise trustee positions on our current opportunities page; if you have any questions about joining the board, please get in touch with our chief executive below. If you would like to contact one of our trustees, please contact our chief executive Maisie on maisie@singinside.org.
OUR BOARD
NIGEL ROTHBAND
Chair
Nigel is a consultant, speaker, coach and mentor who spent over 30 years as a retail executive. His retail roles included Retail Director at Arcadia Group and Managing Director of The Body Shop. More recently he has used his commercial knowledge and business acumen to support charities and social enterprises.
For five years Nigel was Chairman of The ELLA Foundation that was set up to coach, mentor and inspire charity chief executives. He is also Chair of the Fiorentini Foundation that enables less fortunate children to access the world of the performing arts. Together with his wife, Nicole, he set up the fundraising initiative ‘Hosting For The Hungry’, to help alleviate hunger.
A keen sportsman and Manchester City supporter, he hosts the weekly Man City Show Podcast and is regularly seen and heard on TV and radio.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Sing Inside's work is overseen by our senior executive committee, many of whom have been involved in the founding and earliest stages of our work as a student committee. If you have any questions about our workshops, partnering with us as a prison, funding, policy or anything else, feel free to contact the executive team and they will happily put you in touch with the right person for your enquiry.
Maisie is an experienced and inspiring charity sector leader and policy professional. She has wide-ranging experience across prisons and criminal justice, charity leadership, governance and management, and influencing work. At Sing Inside, she leads on all of the charity’s activity, inspiring the team and the hundreds of volunteers across the country to change lives through access to community singing.
Maisie co-founded Sing Inside as a grassroots student volunteering programme while an undergraduate in 2014. She has led the expansion of its services into Oxford, the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West, reaching 28 prisons. During Covid-19 Maisie led and delivered a full restructure of services to become remote, managing the unique challenges of prisons at this time. Under her leadership the charity has become a trusted national provider of community singing programmes in prisons, and a trusted provider of training to community music leaders. Sing Inside has also set its first three year strategy from 2022-25 and Maisie leads on the delivery and monitoring of this work in partnership with the trustees.
Maisie is also a trustee of Clinks, the membership body for charities working in criminal justice services, supporting the good governance of the charity to support its members. She is highly experienced in charity policy and started her sector career on the policy team at ACEVO, leading influencing programmes encompassing charities rights to campaign; democratic appointment processes, including the chair of the Charity Commission; securing Covid-19 support for the sector and the climate crisis. Alongside running Sing Inside, Maisie delivers policy and influencing consultancy support and also works as a freelance soprano, singing professionally across the UK and internationally with ensembles including the BBC Singers and St Martin’s Voices.
PROJECT OFFICERS
Our project officers work with our executive committee on a national level, co-ordinating our local work and communicating with our stakeholders. Head to our current opportunities page to find out more about becoming a project officer.
ARTHUR ROBIJNS
Communications officer
publicity@singinside.org
Arthur oversees Sing Inside's social media. Arthur was first involved with Sing Inside at university, when he went on his first visit, and he has been doing so ever since! He balances his Sing Inside work with his jobs in Programme Management and music production.
CAMBRIDGE COMMITTEE
SAM
President
cambridge@singinside.org
I’m a third-year music student at Clare College and have a background in choral music. I think concert giving and performing for an audience only describe a fraction of music’s power and Sing Inside represents a valuable avenue to explore this. I am really looking forward to leading this committee and helping to facilitate more singing!
OXFORD COMMITTEE
MEGAN
President
oxford@singinside.org
Hi! I’m Megan and I’m a first year music student at Merton College. My degree teaches us about music therapy and community music, but being able to participate and engage with such an amazing organisation like Sing Inside is such an eye opening experience. I’m so looking forward to getting to share music with others, being able to see the positive effect that it can bring to communities and our mental health. I’m very excited to be continuing Sing Inside’s great work this year.
YORK COMMITTEE
We first expanded into York in 2020, and set up our first local committee with students from York University. Anyone from the local area can volunteer though, so do get in touch with Kate to find out more.
RIKA
President
I am a second-year undergraduate reading History and French at the University of York. I had heard about all the incredible and inspiring work that Sing Inside was doing, and so when the opportunity came up to set up a York branch I knew I wanted to get involved as much as possible. I am super excited to see how Sing Inside can grow in York, and am really looking forward to assuming the position as secretary this year!