Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands has appointed a new manager to lead the growth and expansion of the region's music, radio, television, games and film industries.
Susi O'Neill has joined the agency as Cluster Manager for Screen, Image and Sound where she will manage and champion large-scale projects which improve the competitiveness, skills and economy for audio-visual businesses in the region.
Screen, Image and Sound is one of ten business clusters identified by Advantage West Midlands and employs around 21,000 workers in the region, contributing £1.4 billion to the economy each year.
Susi holds a degree in music and drama from the University of Birmingham and also works as a performing and recording artist as one of Britain's leading practitioners of the theremin, an unusual electronic instrument played by moving a hand near an antennae to change the pitch.
Previously, Susi has worked in London as a new media consultant, web project manager and a writer.
She said: "There is a tremendous amount of activity going on across the region in areas such as radio, TV, photography, serious games and music.
"However, much of this activity goes on in isolation and if the West Midland is to truly earn a reputation for leading edge digital media, we need to ensure this work is brought together and given the support it needs to grow and thrive. We already have some excellent projects which are helping to bring together companies to collaborate and market themselves more effectively such as Digital Central and Biztv we need to continue the progress made already."
