About us
Raised Voices CIC was founded by journalists Laura Davis and Maeve Connolly with philanthropy consultant Amy Davenport to empower those under-represented and or misrepresented in traditional media to tell their own stories.
We help charities and non-profits lacking the time, skills or confidence to connect with their communities, through training, tailored communications strategies, tools and resources. We regularly work with arts organisations, which are already telling many diverse stories but lack the capacity to amplify them.
We also run projects that take journalism outside traditional media settings and into communities, working with groups to record and share their histories, memories, opinions and ideas.
We're based in Liverpool and Belfast but work across the UK. Our clients include Social Change Initiative, CO3 Chief Officers 3rd Sector, Grow Wellbeing CIC, North Yorkshire Open Studios, Wirral Open Studio Tour and Creative Heritage, and our funding partners include Community Foundation Northern Ireland.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss working together.
Meet the team
Laura Davis
Director
A freelance arts and heritage journalist, and audience development consultant, Laura has spent the past 25 years writing about people’s lives, dreams and ideas. While she feels privileged to tell those stories, she believes that everyone should have the chance to express themselves in their own way and is excited to be using her skills and experience to support them in that.
Laura was previously Senior Editor (Customer) North West and North Wales for Reach Plc, devising and implementing audience development strategies for two of the UK’s biggest regional news brands, the Liverpool Echo and the Manchester Evening News. She also held the post of Arts Editor on both the Liverpool Daily Post and the Liverpool Echo, and now writes the newsletter Stored Honey about the best of what's on in the North West cultural scene.
She is a graduate of the University of Lancashire's Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Oral History Society and of the Co-Creational Community of Practice run by Greater Community Media,
Maeve Connolly
Director
Maeve Connolly has been a journalist in Northern Ireland for 25 years. She is the former head of audience strategy and growth at the Irish News where she was instrumental in guiding the legacy news organisation through its digital transformation during a 25-year career with the company.
She project-managed a €50,000 grant from Google’s Digital News Initiative fund to build a prototype of a fact checking tool for the media. The project won Innovation and Initiative of the Year at the UK Regional Press Awards.
Maeve has a particular interest in next gen audiences and the role of journalism in a post-conflict society, plus she has an MA in Journalism Innovation and Leadership from the University of Lancashire. Her thesis explored how young people engage with Northern Ireland media's coverage of Troubles legacy issues.
Since March 2026, Maeve has been a member of Ofcom's advisory committee for Northern Ireland.
Amy Davenport
Director
With more than 25 years of experience in the third sector, from heritage sailing vessels to multi million pound cathedral capital build projects, Amy has a wealth of expertise from the arts, culture, and heritage arenas - with a foundation in the visual arts, maritime heritage and the preservation of traditional skills.
She is dedicated to cultivating initiatives that celebrate and champion our diverse national cultural identity. She has extensive experience in fundraising and bid writing, and the delivery of cultural events and activities spanning traditional music and dance, and heritage and arts-related festivals in front-line delivery roles. Additionally, she is a skilled painter, and singer of folk music.
Partners and supporters
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Associates
Tom Canning
Analytics consultant
Tom has worked in digital publishing for over 20 years with experience in almost every behind the scenes aspect of the industry.
In his many roles at Reach Plc, Tom was a driving force in the early days of newsroom analytics where he helped turn data into content ideas and avenues to both follow and invest time and money in. Moving around the country, Tom would work with journalists and news teams to better understand the data in front of them and identify content opportunities.
A firm believer in using analytics to help and support content decisions, he would later transfer those skills to engaging and training journalists on new Content Management Systems, rolling out newsletter projects and identifying video opportunities as YouTube Editor.
He currently works as a freelance content producer for clients like Reach, Esquire magazine and Siren Craft Brew.
Outside of ‘work’, Tom has a keen interest in local football, running a news blog that covers the area he lives in, as well as being the founder of beer festival.
Alice Walker
Freelance video producer
Alice is a video producer and content creator from Liverpool. She worked as a senior video journalist at the Liverpool Echo for four years, running their social media accounts and attending some of the biggest live news scenes in Merseyside's history - from the highs of Eurovision 2023 to the Liverpool FC parade crash in May 2025.
Alice did her degree at Salford University, studying Film Production, and graduated in 2020, where she went on to do an NCTJ at the City of Liverpool College.
In her spare time, Alice likes to write music, animate content for her TikTok and dabbles in writing fiction.