Air Studios and Strongroom announce restructure

The management of Air Studios, Strongroom and its associated companies have announced the formation of the Air Entertainment Group.

The new parent company was formed to take Air from a facilities company to a content creation business. It will manage the existing businesses of Air and Strongroom Studios, Air Post Production, Air Management, Air Mastering, Stronghire and the Strongroom Bar & Kitchen, and to act as the vehicle for the development of new businesses.

Richard Boote has confirmed his relationship with Paul Woolf and David Ravden who become joint owners and directors of the Air Group (pictured above). Boote has been appointed as chairman, while Woolf takes the role of CEO and Ravden becomes the Group’s development director.

Boote has a legal background specialising in entertainment law. His firm Woolf Seddon represented many recording artists, filmmakers and celebrities such as Tears for Fears, Madness, Nick Faldo, as well as the movie Highlander and the Superman franchise. He has also been a West End producer with the ‘Rat Pack’ and ‘Calamity Jane’ added to his list of credits. Recently he has also guided Music Unsigned Holdings, an internet-based music based company, to a successful IPO.

David Ravden comes from an accountancy background but from an early stage used his knowledge in establishing the UK`s first business management company Goldberg Ravden, representing film, television, sport and celebrity clients that included Duran Duran, Madonna, John Cleese, Guy Ritchie and Claudia Schiffer. He later merged his company to become Martin Green Ravden. In 2006 became CEO of Handmade films.

The company has stated that the existing businesses that now make up the Air Entertainment Group will continue to be managed by a very experienced management team that have now been reorganised into separate autonomous departments.

Boote stated: “Since I first set up Strongroom Studios in the eighties my motivation was to use the studio creatively. After 25 years of expanding to a world class and varied facilities business I am very excited that with David and Paul firmly on board that I will finally be able to get back to the reason for doing this in the first place, to create high quality music, film and tv and have some fun doing it.”

Woolf added: “The chemistry that David and I have with Richard is fantastic. We believe that as a team we have the right skill-set to build upon Richard’s original vision, and now also our vision for the Group. From our first day here, we realised what great places Air and Strongroom are with an amazing amount of talent and potential across the whole of the business. As a CEO you couldn’t ask for a better foundation to the business.”