Meet the Team

Steve Heap - General Secretary
Steve has been the General Secretary of AFO since its formation in 1987.  He is also the Director of Mrs Casey Music and was Director of Towersey Festival for 45 years, having retired after the 2019 Festival in August.  He has over 55 years’ experience in the festival and events industry and is currently Chairman of the Events Industry Forum (EIF) and a contributor to The Purple Guide.

Lioux Heap - Membership & Conference Coordinator
Lioux has over 30 years’ experience of working at festivals and events.  She has recently joined the team at Harmony Voyages and is also the Producer of All About Children at Towersey Festival, having also worked on pre-Festival accreditation for Artists, Trade, Catering, Volunteers and Box Office.  Lioux also works with BBC Radio 2/7digital Creative, Folk on The Pier, Moonbeams, Cambridge Folk Festival and was a Games Maker at the London 2012 Olympics.

Madeline Spear - Marketing
Madeline has over 20 years' experience in digital marketing as well as website design and over the last 9 years has managed an online social media marketing agency - Shine On Digital  During this time she has enjoyed working with many music festivals and events companies including Costa del Folk, Keswick Jazz & Blues Festival and Harmony Voyages, and with the insight and knowledge gained she will now market AFO online and offline. Madeline is a firm believer that to get the best out of social media, it needs to come out organically from the nature of the business.  It's with this principle that she will drive the social marketing of The Association Of Festival Organisers.