Tomorrow’s Warriors x Fontana announce Career Mentoring Scheme

08 December 2025 - Press release

Award-winning talent development organisation, creative producer and charity Tomorrow’s Warriors today announced a new partnership with Fontana (Universal Music UK) to deliver an innovative Career Mentoring Scheme to 12 emerging Warrior musicians.

This marks the third round of the initiative, which previously ran in partnership with Decca Records. Recently revived as a label championing jazz, folk, blues and soul, Fontana now takes the lead in delivering the scheme with Tomorrow’s Warriors.

The year-long programme will provide vital one-to-one mentoring to Black, global majority and female musicians on the Tomorrow’s Warriors Emerging Artist Programme. This year’s cohort includes Alex Ho (piano), Christ-Stephane Boizi (trombone), David Kayode (tenor sax), Donovan Haffner (alto sax), Emily Tran (piano/Composition), Genevieve Namazzi (double bass), Kezia Pollendine (piano), Ky Osborne (piano), Mali Sheard (alto sax), Miranda Radford (drums),Nathan Dawkins (electric/double bass) and Shanise Hall (trumpet).

Each Warrior musician is paired with a member of staff from across Fontana’s departments - including A&R, Marketing, Commercial & Streaming and Digital - receiving tailored support, monthly one to one sessions and group sessions in Marketing, A&R and Digital and more, to help them navigate and progress within the industry.

Fontana hosted a launch event at its Kings Cross headquarters on 27th November, where the mentees met their mentors and celebrated the start of the new partnership.

Tomorrow’s Warriors has been a springboard for many of today’s most exciting artists - including BRIT Award and Mercury Prize winners EZRA Collective. Alongside mentoring, the Tomorrow’s Warriors Emerging Artist Programme offers performance opportunities, specialist training, traineeships, talks, masterclasses and bursaries. Over the past 30 years, Tomorrow’s Warriors has supported more than 15,000 young people, providing between 1,000–5,000 hours of free jazz training to each participant.

 

Dr Gary Crosby OBE, Co-founder & Artistic Director, Tomorrow’s Warriors said “Partnering with Fontana to deliver the next round of our Career Mentoring Scheme is an incredibly exciting step for Tomorrow’s Warriors. Fontana’s renewed focus on jazz, folk, blues and soul aligns beautifully with our mission to nurture the next generation of diverse talent. For over three decades we’ve committed to providing young Black, Global Majority and female musicians with the space, support and skills they need to thrive, and this scheme deepens that commitment. Connecting our Emerging Artists with the expertise and generosity of mentors at Fontana will be transformational for their professional journeys.”

 

Tom Lewis, President, Fontana, said “We’re so proud of our longstanding and incredibly rewarding relationship with Tomorrow’s Warriors and it’s brilliant to meet this year’s mentorship participants. We always learn so much and are constantly impressed with the talent, ambition and self-determination that we see in the Warriors; and the sense of community, support and encouragement in which they grow and thrive. It is easy to see why Tomorrow’s Warriors has unearthed and nurtured such an incredible line-up of stars in recent years. It has played a pivotal role in making the UK such a global beacon for jazz.”

Tomorrow’s Warriors musician and former mentee Kianja Harvey-Elliot (vocalist) said “The scheme arrived at exactly the right moment in my development and helped me understand the business side of music. I built a relationship with my mentor who was, and still is a pillar of consistent support and guidance. Whenever I had specific questions about a certain department she put me in touch with different members of the team and she helped me zone in on the kind of clarity I need to present a project to a label. Tomorrow’s Warriors always believes in you, and the mentoring programme strengthens that belief by connecting us with people who can help turn our ideas into opportunities.”

Tomorrow’s Warriors musician and former mentee Grifton Forbes-Amos (trumpeter) said “Being part of the mentoring scheme has enabled me to take the next step in my career. My mentor aided me in recording my first EP, as well as taking the next steps to then releasing it. They also helped me understand the importance of some aspects of the industry, such as PRS and PPL. My mentor helped to make connections to people like mixing engineers, helping me in marketing myself and much more. Having direct access to someone inside a major label helped demystify the industry and gave me the knowledge to navigate my career with purpose.