Helen Epega

Professional Background

Helen Epega is a British-Nigerian CreaTech entrepreneur, composer and synaesthetic artist whose work explores new ways of experiencing, participating in and belonging through art, technology and multisensory practice. Performing as The Venus Bushfires, she is the creator of Song Queen: A Pidgin Opera, the world’s first Pidgin English opera, alongside works including Of Earth and Quill and Where The River Holds Us. Her practice moves across music, opera, storytelling, visual art, performance and technology, often drawing upon African and diasporic traditions, contemporary culture and her synaesthetic relationship with sound and colour. Helen is the founder and CEO of Well Tuned Human Ltd, through which she created HiQuu®, a patent-pending multisensory infrastructure system designed to translate live and digital experiences across multiple sensory pathways in real time. She is also the originator of Access as Creative Core™, a framework that repositions access and participation as key creative instigators, rather than retrofitted bolt-ons. Across her artistic, technological and leadership practice, Helen explores a central question: what is the difference between accommodation and belonging? Her research and creative development have included collaborations and explorations with Brunel University London, London College of Fashion, Brent Sensory Services and Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, working across performance, haptics, sensory experience, accessibility and emerging technologies. Alongside her creative and entrepreneurial practice, Helen contributes to cultural leadership and governance. She is an elected member of the Society of Authors Board and Chair of its Risk Committee, and serves on the Media Council of The Ivors Academy. Her work has been recognised with an OFFIES nomination for Best Idea in Design & Sound. Across her artistic, technological and leadership practice, Helen explores a central question: what is the difference between accommodation and belonging?

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Expertise