Sarah Marshall

Sarah Marshall is the Founder and CEO of The People’s Orchestra (TPO), the charity and social impact movement she created to prove that a sustainable, resilient music organisation can change lives as well as make great music. From a single community orchestra launched in Sandwell and the Black Country in 2012, she has deliberately grown TPO into a national family of orchestras, choirs and bands working across England, Scotland and Wales, opening up ambitious, professionally led performance opportunities to people who might never have seen themselves as “the type” to join.

From day one, Sarah’s vision has been to hard-wire social impact into the heart of the music. Under her leadership, around 1,200 people now take part in community music-making every week, building confidence, wellbeing and genuine social connection—especially for those facing isolation or disadvantage. TPO’s musicians have gone from local stages to global platforms, with recordings now held in the DreamWorks music library and performances reaching billions through the Commonwealth Games ceremonies.

To make that impact last, Sarah designed and implemented TPO’s suite of social impact programmes and funds, creating a model where great music and practical support sit side by side. Positive Futures, TPO’s employability programme, has supported more than 2,500 people into paid work through structured placements, coaching, networks and hands-on guidance that help people shift from feeling stuck to moving forward.

Alongside this, Sarah established TPO’s financial wellbeing support so that people could navigate the benefits system and claim what they’re entitled to, with around 250 people a year supported and hundreds of thousands of pounds unlocked in vital household income for those in crisis. She has also launched a targeted community grants program, giving grassroots groups the backing to run their own creative projects and extending the charity’s impact far beyond its own rehearsals and performances.

Sarah's founding vision and long-term stewardship has built TPO into a robust, growing organisation, recognised with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, an MBE for Voluntary Organisations.

At the centre of all this is the idea that drove Sarah to found The People’s Orchestra in the first place: make culture feel like it belongs to everyone—and then use it as a powerful tool for rebuilding connection, confidence and opportunity. Day in, day out, TPO helps people feel less alone, more hopeful and more in control of their future, turning music-making into real-life change for thousands of individuals and their families.