Ian Falconer has been Treasurer of the Sheffield Music Academy since 2013 and is one of the small team driving the Harmony Works Project since its inception in 2018. He currently chairs its Development Board, overseeing the governance and financial sustainability of the project.

Ian has always had been passionate about the role of the performing arts in education, recognising that they are essential for peoples’ wellbeing and health, and have the power to transform lives by teaching skills that are sadly no longer part of the traditional school curriculum. Ian’s interest is driven by a lifelong love of music and theatre nurtured by his own teenage efforts with a local youth theatre group and continued through his professional life working with bodies such as the Royal Northern College of Music and Leeds College of Music.

A Chartered Public Accountant, he has 40 years of advisory experience, latterly with Grant Thornton LLP, for whom he was audit partner to many universities, colleges, and government agencies, including the Department for Education.

He is also Vice Chair of The Sheffield College, Chair of Audit at Futureworks (higher education for the creative industries) and Vice Chair of Arches Housing, a social landlord in NE Sheffield.