David Wibberley

Head of Management for the Creative Industries and Performing Arts

MA PGDip FHEA Head of Management 

After being signed as a songwriter to Virgin Music at 19 years old, Dave’s first move into management was in a business development role for Sheffield City Council’s, innovative Cultural Industries Quarter team. This post led to him developing a close working relationship with South Yorkshire icons Human League and FON Records, among others. The success of the Cultural Industries Quarter in Sheffield led to Dave being offered an A&R job at Momentum Music in London, where he had his first chart success with ‘techno rave’ artists SL2 and Liquid. 

While at Momentum Music, Dave gained his Masters in Cultural Studies, studying as a part-time student at the University of West London. 

In 1993, Dave moved to Chrysalis Music, where, as A&R manager, he had several hits with Skunk Anansie, Baby Bird and Lightning Seeds.

Joining Richard Branson’s V2 label in 1996, Dave was lucky enough to be the A&R manager for Stereophonics’ first two albums, both of which went multi-platinum. 

In 2004, after four years as Director of A&R at Jive Records UK, Dave set up his own management and production company, magnoliaMAM Ltd. The company saw international success with The King Blues and songwriter David Ford. Ford wrote several hits for the French superstar Johnny Halliday, and this success was recognised by the French music industry in 2014, when they awarded him the prestigious ‘Victoire de la Musique’ honour.

In 2010, Dave delivered his first university teaching as a part-time lecturer for the University of Hertfordshire, and went full-time in 2012, when he was appointed by the University of East London to design and manage their Business School’s BA (Hons) Music Industry Management programme. 

Dave joined LIPA in the summer of 2018 as Head of Management, and teaches a variety of Creative Industries Management subjects across our Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes.

Dave continues to run his management and production company, mMAM Ltd, providing music industry management and administrative services to a range of professional artists and songwriters.

His wide-ranging career as a creative industries entrepreneur and cultural sector academic, has left him with a wealth of experience, knowledge and understanding, regarding the creative industries, business management and higher education.

Dave’s teaching at LIPA focuses on Copyright, Contracts and Intellectual Property, the Business of the Creative Industries, Employability & Enterprise, Music Industry Management, Popular Culture Analysis and Dissertation Research Projects.

Dave’s professional career within the creative industries, alongside his ongoing involvement with artist and copyright management, bring him a depth of understanding, knowledge and experience that informs his teaching and mentoring of our Management students, as well as benefitting LIPA’s relationships with professionals from across the creative industry sector. 

Liz Carlisle

Lecturer

Liz has worked in the arts and cultural industries in Liverpool since graduating as one of eight people with a BA Hons in Performing Arts with a specialisation in Arts Administration (at the time this undergraduate programme at Leicester Polytechnic was the only one in the UK that specialised in arts management). Having started her career booking and managing 40 tours per year for a local community theatre company she soon became the go-to arts manager in Liverpool, working with Merseyside Arts (the local office of Arts Council), Merseyside Dance Association (a forerunner of Merseyside Dance Initiative), Hope Street Ltd, The Centre for Arts Development Training, Kaboodle Theatre, Loudmouth Mime Theatre, Fun Promotions Theatre Company, Pegasus Puppet Theatre, The Association of Theatres on Merseyside and then becoming Administrative Director for Urban Strawberry Lunch (USL).

During her work with USL Liz helped the organisation transition from a partnership to becoming a Ltd Company and Charity status and secured annual funding from Arts Council England and Liverpool City Council, all whilst moving from a solely managerial role in to becoming a performer, composer, and workshop/education leader too; booking, managing and appearing in tours of Singapore, Malta, Cyprus, France, Belgium and Ireland as well as working across the UK in a variety of site specific and arts venues. Her work also included many TV and Radio appearances (live and recorded, including 2 for Blue Peter which resulted in being awarded a Silver Badge!) Her professional experience includes fundraising and financial management, client and stakeholder liaison and relationships, marketing, tour booking and management, business and operational planning, lighting operator, driver, marketing and PR, roadie, performer, composer and arranger, artistic direction and much more.

Whilst working with USL Liz was involved with the transformation of Liverpool’s Bombed Out Church from a no-go zone to an open air venue hosting an exhibition by Yoko Ono and performances from big name acts including The Kooks, (British) Sea Power, Clinic and John Head; leading her to develop venue management skills including Front of House, Health and Safety, Licensing, Programming and more. She was also involved with the opening of Capital of Culture 2008, appearing on the roof of St George’s Hall with Ringo Starr.

In 2014 Liz moved into the field of community development working with adults who were isolated for a variety of reasons, helping them to build an independent support organisation before moving to another role working with adults in crisis (housing or financial) and helping them build skills and competencies to prevent the cycle of crisis recurring. During this time Liz was also the Participation Coordinator for 20 Stories High theatre company and volunteered with some large-scale projects including Liverpool Lantern Company’s spring festival and the World Athletics and International Para Athletics Championships.

Liz has been teaching at LIPA since 2012, has a PG Cert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. As much of Liz’s professional work has taken place in unusual and ‘found’ spaces as well as in traditional theatre and community settings she brings her practical experience to the front and centre of her teaching, believing that developing an understanding of all aspects of producing and managing a performance or project helps create the most effective managers.

Liz teaches Live Events and Performance Management, Raising Funds and Managing Finance, and Music, Entertainment, Theatre and Events in the Contemporary World; as well as working as a supervising tutor across several other modules. She also leads on LIPA Enterprise – a scheme to award small grants to student and alumni enterprise projects undertaken outside their studies and post-graduation.

Pippa Lea

Lecturer

Pippa, MCIPR, has over 20 years’ experience in arts marketing in the areas of PR and audience development, visitor economy strategy, digital strategy and website development, stakeholder communications, ticketing and visitor experience. She has held press, PR, communications, marketing and audience development positions at the National Portrait Gallery, Foster + Partners Architects, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, Floral Pavilion Theatre and Conference Centre, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) Liverpool and Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. In 2000, as part of the PR and Development team at the National Portrait Gallery, she led on stakeholder management for the royal opening of the new Ondaatje Wing. Following this she joined global architecture firm, Foster + Partners, in a press, PR and public engagement role. Key projects included: City Hall, Wembley Stadium, and 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin), and coordinating Architecture Week and Heritage Open Week events.

As PR and Communications Manager for Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, Pippa created and implemented a two-year PR and communications strategy for the opening of the new Everyman Theatre. She also led the theatres’ press and PR campaigns for Liverpool’s Capital of Culture Year working in partnership with Liverpool City Council’s Culture Team. During this time, Pippa worked with actors including, Kim Cattrall, Pete Postlethwaite, Jonathan Pryce, Matthew Kelly, Leanne Best (LIPA graduate) and David Morrissey. She also managed campaigns for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award-winning Unprotected and stage premieres of Ghost Stories and The Ladykillers. Pippa was also the website manager, overseeing two website redesigns. 

At FACT Liverpool Pippa headed the Marketing and Communications Team where she led a full rebrand and new visual identity working with leading creative design agency, Praline. She also managed the creation of a new website to coincide with the organisation’s 15th birthday. 

In 2019, Pippa undertook a deep-dive 18-month consultancy role as Marketing and Audience Development Director at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod funded by Welsh Government’s Major Events Unit. Remit and deliverables included: an audience development strategy with long-term strategic planning; upskilling and reviewing the marketing team; a marketing campaign strategy to nurture a daytime visitor market resulting in a 17% increase in overall visitors and a 20% increase in daytime visitors; introducing the Audience Finder segmentation add-on tool to the organisation and integrating it with the Box Office system (Spektrix) to introduce dynamic e-comms content and dynamic ticketing initiatives. 

Pippa is also an Associate Freelance Consultant for Counterculture LLP who provide specialist professional services across strategy, finance, law, management, governance and capital projects throughout the UK and internationally. 

She is a Member of the AMA (Arts Marketing Association), a Member of the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) and Chair of St Helens Cultural Hubs NPO Advisory Board. She was previously Co-Chair of Wirral Visitor Economy Board, a LEP (Liverpool Enterprise Partnership) Visitor Economy Board Member, and on the Steering Group for the Wirral Council Visitor Economy Strategy.

Pippa is Level 4 Module Leader for Marketing, Managing Organisations, and Introduction to Professional Practice (IPP) within Theatre, Music, Entertainment and Events.

The Marketing module provides an understanding of marketing concepts and strategic marketing management whilst developing abilities to identify tools for creating marketing campaigns and measuring success.

Managing Organisations covers a range of theoretical management concepts relating to the management of organisations within the creative industries.

IPP introduces the basics of a variety of different creative and arts activities, laying the building blocks for the forthcoming years.

Our students appreciate the direct link between learning and professional application. Using personal case studies and recent professional experience across a range of industries and organisations, Pippa can provide a contemporary overview of roles within the creative industries and some of the up-to-date tools that are being used across a range of practices.

Ged McKenna

Lecturer

Ged brings many years’ practical experience to his qualifications in personnel and development. He has run two people development enterprises and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. Joining LIPA when we first opened, he has overseen over 30 European projects and developed our part-time academy LIPA 4-19. Ged is a great believer in coaching and facilitation. Each student will be on a unique path to developing their ability and knowledge base, and Ged ensures they achieve this through encouraging observation, practical application and working collaboratively, at the same time as improving their individual skills.

Gillian Walsh

Lecturer

Gillian has many years of experience working in regional theatre, where she held roles from venue management and project management to fundraising. She has served on various boards for independent theatre companies, arts organisations and charities. Gillian holds an MSc in Music and Creative Industries Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies. She uses her extensive professional experience and theoretical knowledge to enable students to develop an in-depth understanding of the industry. From her time in the third sector, where she raised funds for arts and community projects, Gillian is able to support students with finding funds for their own real-life projects.