Urban Music Awards’ budget increase boosts suppliers
The continuing success of the Urban Music Awards (UMA) has led to its organisational budget increasing by a staggering 500% compared with last year, benefiting the event services suppliers involved with the show, particularly production company PSL, which played a major role in designing and implementing the spectacle.
The show was held in the Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London, in front of an invited audience of more than 600 VIPs from the music industry and corporate world. And although PSL was delighted with the additional budget, the company was only too aware of the exceptional standard of service it was expected to deliver.
The UMA covers every urban genre from gospel and neo soul to hip hop, and more. This year’s Awards were presented again by Radio 1 DJ Ras Kwame and neo-soul heavyweight Terri Walker, featuring 19 live performances from established and up-and-coming artists (including UB40, Nate James and Keisha White), as well as 25 awards.
Led by John Montague and Hannah Spicer, the PSL team handled all the logistics, including security and front-of-house management, and event production, in particular the generation of all-visual content for the show. The creative department worked from sponsor Kicker’s own advertising campaigns and web-based content, maximising the branding blend from electronic to live and broadcast. In fact, virtually every department of PSL was involved in some way.
Project designer Montague was delighted with his team, praising them for “showing great creativity and flexibility under pressure”.
“We had very tight deadlines and budgets for this show,” he explained. “However, we handled the challenges of the evening by being pro-active and practical, producing a fantastic event for all who attended.”