Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Live at Leeds 2015 set to be best yet with help from Leeds Beckett
Around 175 Leeds Beckett students of music, events management, entertainment management and broadcast media will be involved in a variety of roles across the May bank holiday weekend. As well as running the wristband exchange, managing stages and live sound, and making video footage of performances, during the main event on Saturday 2 May, the students are also organising and running the annual ‘Unconference’ on Friday 1 May and a new event, Live at Leeds Extra Time, held on bank holiday Monday 4 May.
Samuel Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in Music at Leeds Beckett, commented: “It’s fantastic to be able to bring music industry professionals to Leeds for ‘Unconference’, allowing our students and the public to engage with them and share their knowledge in an informal setting. The opportunity for BA (Hons) Events Management students to work on a real-life event, in collaboration with the team at Leeds College of Music, is invaluable.”
The Unconference is set to take place at Leeds College of Music from 10am to 6pm and will feature a keynote talk from James Brown and Tom Hudson of Pulled Apart by Horses. This will be followed by panel discussions around the live music industry, publishing and alternative funding streams; and talks by representatives from Columbia Records, Dice.FM, SJM Concerts and Sentric Music Rights Management, Kendal Calling, Big Life Management and more.
Next up will be a ‘meet the experts’ sessions, presented by Blacks Solicitors, with local and national industry representatives including PRS for Music Foundation and Spine Farm Records. Finally, there will be a listening panel where bands and artists can submit their music to be discussed by a panel of experts who will also give practical advice on recording, releasing and getting exposure.
The Unconference is supported by Leeds Beckett University, Blacks Solicitors and PRS for Music Foundation. The event has been organised by Leeds Beckett BA (Hons) Events Management students and will be filmed by students of BSc (Hons) Broadcast Media Technologies.
Also coordinated by the Leeds Beckett events management students is the Live at Leeds Extra Time event taking place on bank holiday Monday at Goals Soccer Centre on Redcoate Lane, from 12pm. This event includes the Live at Leeds Football tournament, where 32 teams will compete to win the trophy from last year’s winners, ITV; an acoustic stage with local bands Esper Scout, Sons of Great Men, and more; food from The Pizza Guy; stalls and pop-up shops from &/or Emporium; Zorb football; and a silent art auction.
Entry to the event itself is free and all proceeds from activities will go to Martin House Children’s Hospice.
Samuel added: “Live At Leeds Extra Time is a great event that brings together a large number of music industry organisations in Leeds in a social setting at Goals Soccer Centre. For the students to be able to facilitate this, while raising money for Martin House Children’s Hospice, is fantastic experience, as well as showcasing music and art students’ work through our live music stage and silent art auction.”
The live music stage at Live at Leeds Extra Time is presented with support from PRS for Music Foundation.