Center for Communication & BRIC Present: Careers in Music Panel – Live Entertainment

Grace Blake is a music industry veteran who brings her many years of management and programming, artist relations, talent buying, and production to her role as Programming Director at City Winery NYC, Pier 57 and City Winery Hudson Valley. During her previous tenure as Director of Operations, Artist Relations and Programming at The Iridium in Times Square she was recognized and inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Great Music Manager & Promoter.

Blake is the producer of two award winning PBS series Front and Center and Speakeasy which featured performances by superstar talent such as Shawn Mendes, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark, Jr., Liam Gallagher, and many more. She also produced season one of MTV Live Set List, with performances by Dua Lipa, Kaleo, Børns, Léon and more, prior to playing bigger stages.

Blake is currently serving her third term as a Board member for NIVA (National Independent Venues Association) and has been actively involved in NIVA Insurance, Commercial and Healthcare. Since May of 2020, Grace Blake has served as Co-Executive Director of My Good (mygood.org) a 501(c)3 non-profit organization she co-founded with Charyn Harris and Grammy award singer Macy Gray. The foundation’s mission is to ensure that families directly impacted by police brutality get the much-needed emotional and financial support as they move forward. My Good identifies families in need of care and assists them with finding grief counseling, legal and financial assistance. My Good is not an anti-police organization.

Blake was recognized by Pollstar Women of Live Black Women Executives in 2024, and was a Pollstar Women of Live 2022 honoree. Born in Jamaica, raised in Kingston, Ontario Canada, Blake is one of the most respected music industry veterans worldwide.

Wes Jackson has over 25 years of experience as a leader, entrepreneur, innovator, creative and executive in entertainment and academia. Wes has been leading BRIC, a pioneering, multi-disciplinary arts and media institution anchored in downtown Brooklyn, as its President since July 2022.

BRIC’s programs include the free, summer-long BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival whose 46th season kicks off this summer; the New York Emmy Award-winning BRIC TV, whose programming includes acclaimed original scripted series and hyper-local news stories and documentaries; Brooklyn Free Speech TV, a leading public access television network; a major contemporary art exhibition program; BRIC JazzFest, which brings global legends and emerging artists in jazz to Brooklyn each October; family programs; and more. BRIC’s nationally recognized school-based arts and media education program reaches thousands of NYC public school students each year.

Prior to starting at BRIC, Jackson was the Director of the Business of Creative Enterprises (BCE) Program and Senior Executive In Residence at Emerson College. His career began as a concert producer, which led him to his first venture, Seven Heads Entertainment, and later to found and lead the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.

Chris Sampson is the Associate Director and Head of Music Booking at Spotify, where he oversees all music bookings for the company’s internal and external events.

Chris began his career as an artist manager at Red Light Management, spending 8 years working in both the Charlottesville and New York City offices. After his time at Red Light, he spent 12 years at Superfly Presents, where he led the music booking team for major festivals like Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, and Clusterfest.

Outside of work, Chris enjoys spending time with his family and his dog, Otis

Creative, art collector, and archivist. Syreeta Gates is the founder of The Gates Preserve, a multimedia experience company committed to archiving and preserving hip hop culture such that it lasts forever. Currently featured in and a producer on Netflix’s “Ladies First”. She produces “Yo Stay Hungry” -- a live culinary competition that bridges hip hop with food and beverage, and is co-owner of Most Incredible Studio which celebrates and commemorates the artists and moments that continue to elevate and define hip-hop culture - through LEGO. She was also on the United States Season 2 of LEGO Masters as the first Black woman. She has produced 4 short films and Gates' archival work includes research for” Ladies First”, “Black Pop”, “The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion” and “A Ballerina's Tale.” Her feature documentary Shaping the Culture, is the history of hip-hop in print from copy machines to tweets.

Syreeta has been featured in Vogue,Forbes, RedBull, Black Enterprise,Refinery29, and many other outlets. Her work was lauded in Elena Romero and Elizabeth Way “Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style” (2023), Tony Wagner's, “Creating Innovators” (2015), and John Schlimm's book, “Stand Up!: 75 Young Activists Who Rock the World, And How You Can, Too!"  (2013) Gates was also highlighted in Adam Smiley Poswolsky's “The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work.” (2016)

Syreeta holds a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Youth Culture from Hunter College and a Master’s degree in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation from New York University. A native New Yorker, Syreeta is from South Jamaica Queens. #QGTM