Craig G Pennington
Chief Executive & Co-Founder - Future Yard CIC
Craig is Chief Executive and Co-Founder at Future Yard CIC; a Community Music Venue and Music Sector Skills Hub located in Birkenhead, Wirral.
Future Yard thinks about music differently; as a transformative opportunity.
Future Yard’s model reimagines a Community Music Venue as a space for dynamic social change, providing skills and training opportunities for young people, creative and community development alongside a live programme blending international touring artists (Bodega, Black Country New Road, JP Cooper, OMD, Pongo, Gruff Rhys, Sierra Ferrell, BC Camplight +++) with emerging local talent. Despite launching during the COVID-19 pandemic, the venue has established itself as one of the UKs most dynamic new music organisations and a positive force for change, gathering praise from national and international press.
Future Yard is a key anchor in Birkenhead’s regeneration framework and Town Deal programme working in partnership with local council and regional government to bring about vital social impact and secure substantial capital investment.
Craig has been active in shaping policy approaches to music in the region for many years. He authored ‘Liverpool, Music City?’ with LJMU in 2017 and is a member of the Liverpool City Region Music Board.
Before Future Yard, Craig established Bido Lito! - The Liverpool Music Magazine - a publication and creative agency at the forefront of new music on Merseyside for 11 years, providing a vital platform for the region’s emerging new artists.
Craig is also one of the founders of Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, the leading event of its kind in Europe which was named ‘Best Small Festival’ at the 2015 NME Awards.
Previous to this, Craig established Dead Young Records, releasing a series of singles, EPs and LPs via Cargo Records, ran a community music studio in a disused munitions factory and worked for Sony Music UK, delivering promotional, press and radio campaigns for artists across the Sony roster.