The home of emerging creatives, GUAP announces the first award nominees for our inaugural GUAP GALA. We will be awarding 21 creatives from across the industry and proudly shining a spotlight on those who may not always receive the honour and praise they deserve.

The Creative Business of the year category is sponsored by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that empowers millions of creators with the tools they need to grow an online business. This category features some of the most impactful and creative businesses operating in the UK creative industry, who over the past 12 months have been building up incredible momentum in their fields.

NOMINEES:

If you’re not familiar with all the brands here is some information on few of them.

DLT is an events, music and brunch company established in the summer of 2016. It was created because a group of friends where frustrated about the lack of events in London. Their aim was to bring their New York vibe to London by understanding how marrying food, alcohol and music can create a beautiful memory and vibe. In 2022, The DLT took on a huge undertaking by planning a destination Festival in Malta that saw the likes of Wizkid, Rema, Shensea and more perform.

Wall of Productions was founded in 2018 by UK and US actors, producers and writers; Percelle Ascott and Joivan Wade and is currently led by Managing Director Tafara Makopa. It’s established as the UK’s high-quality entertainment programming and brand content with 604k subscribers on Youtube. In 2018 they partnered with Footasylum to become its official branded content partner, producing popular shows such as ‘Does The Shoe Fit’. The company now has four arms, The Wall of Comedy; Wall of Production; Wall of Talent and Wall of Music.

Bayy Agency is a 360 marketing agency. They provide different types of services such as experiential marketing experience and activations, pop up shops, creative gifting pr packs and digital Marketing campaigns. Their most recent activations include Brent Faiyaz Album Listening Event; Mo Gilligan Late-ish show; Big Zuu’s Big Eats and Nala’s Baby Products.

Recess/No Signal was originally conceived by brothers Jojo and David Sonubi as an extension to Recess, their string of club nights and day parties that have become a bedrock of black nightlife in London. Since then they have been broadcasting daily from their studio in London with over 60 showsSince the ease of the pandemic No Signal have moved into live events, curating Top Boy & Mobo after parties, festival stages and more.

On June Bank Holiday Weekend they took over 3 massive venues in London, Kokos, Boxpark Wembley and Boxpark Croydon. All in the space of 4 days they sold out all the events and every one was amazing.

VAMP is a social media agency. It’s a digital talent and entertainment PR Agency aiding brands in authentically diversifying context and maximizing reach. Their talent management roster includes the likes of Adeola Patrone, Victor Kunda and more. The agency launched in 2017, where goal was to increase representation and development of Black digital talent in the UK.

They are the UK agency behind curating and offering services to launch major box office movies in the UK including Spider-man: Into the multiverse, Black Panther, Batman and more.

GroundWorks

Ground Works is a creative consultancy. Groundworks are constantly creating a platform to provide opportunity for the new era of rap and drill artists on the rise, in a way that stands out to other establishments. One of the most admirable factors about Groundwork’s is it’s cyphers which provides opportunities for the rap/drill and producer community.

Their first cypher was actually their first ever youtube video. It featured some Drill heavy hitters including M1llionz, Digga D Unknown T, V9 and More. This video now has 4.2 million views and has played a huge part in attracting global attention to the UK drill scene.

The public voting closed on the 1st August ahead of the GUAP GALA Excellence panel judging day which was hosted last week to deliberate the winners of each category. The Excellence Panel assisted with judging and lent their unique expertise to the process. The panel included heavy hitters in the creative industry such as Julie Adenuga, Darcus Beese, Aries Moross, Adjani Salmon, Dumi Oburota and Karen Blackett are the latest judges to join the panel for 2022.

The winner of the very first Creative Business of the year award sponsored by Squarespace will be announced on the night of the GUAP GALA. Who do you think deserves to win and who will you be rooting for? Let us know your thoughts by using the #GUAPGALA hashtag on social media.

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