Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Leeds Beckett students welcome a New Year, New Start at the Brudenell
The event, held on Tuesday 27 January at the Brudenell Social Club in Hyde Park, Leeds, has been named ‘New Year, New Start’, and aims to highlight the wide range of careers that exist within music and the music industry.
From 10am to 5pm, students and staff within the University’s School of Film, Music & Performing Arts, who curate the annual Live at Leeds Unconference event in May, will host a day of talks from music industry professionals, accompanied by Q&A sessions and networking opportunities.
Speakers, including Ellen Smith of the band Ellen and the Escapades; Allie Bailey, Marketing Manager at Columbia Records; Nathan Roberts, A&R Assistant for independent record label and publishing company, Lucky Number Music, and co-manager of the band Glass Animals; Sam Townend, a leading figure in UK hard house music; and artist manager Emily Moore, founder of international management company Southern Bird; will give quick-fire presentations on what their varied music industry careers have involved, and how they got to where they are.
Following the daytime event, from 6pm onwards, the students will stage an evening of Leeds-based bands and singers, including students and graduates of the University.
The acts performing will be: CryBabyCry, a new band described as the Black Keys meeting Nancy Sinatra; Munich, an indie rock band inspired by Bruce Springsteen, the Cribs and 90s hip hop; and Fold, a down-tempo trip-hop band described as “brilliant, stunning” by Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne; and Sons of Great Men, sophisticated and melodic pop; and James Carroll, an acoustic math rock and emo solo artist.
Bands will be followed by DJ sets from Leeds Beckett lecturers, Justin Morey and Bob Brazil.
Samuel Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in Music at Leeds Beckett and co-organiser of New Year, New Start, commented: “The idea behind New Year, New Start is to show our students the range of interesting jobs that people are doing within the music industry, and the many interesting ways that they have found to get there. There are very few set routes to enjoying a career in music, so we’ve collected a host of professionals to talk about their personal experiences alongside Q&As and sociable lunch and drinks intervals.
“For the last five years we have worked with students to present the Live At Leeds Unconference and this year, for the first time, we have been able to bring another event together, that focuses on the varied careers within the music industry. This is the start of a series of events that we hope to involve students in, working with and talking to experienced people from industry in a professional environment and taking on roles to facilitate and promote live events.”
Entry is free for both events and open to all. Register here for the daytime event: http://bit.ly/NYNS-Day and here for the evening: http://bit.ly/NYNS-Evening
Both events have been organised with support from PRS for Music Foundation, an organisation providing funding for new music of all genres within the UK.
Image: students attending the Live at Leeds Unconference.