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Samuel Nicholls or whiskas as he is mainly known in the music industry, is a Senior Lecturer in Music at Leeds Beckett University, founding the BA Music Industries Management course. He initiated the Music:Leeds project in 2017, before establishing the emerging talent programme Launchpad and building Music:Local as a vehicle to connect and support local music sectors more broadly. Previously, whiskas has run a music venue and live promotions company, founded the Dance To The Radio record label, was guitarist in the band ¡Forward, Russia! and has worked as an appointed advisor for organisations such as Yorkshire Festival, Leeds 2023 Artistic Programme, PRS Foundation and Yorkshire Sound Women Network.

Music:Leeds acts as a centralised point to support, develop, grow and promote music in the city across all levels, genres and cultures. Find out more at musicleeds.com

Music Local supports and develops place-based music support systems and infrastructures, tailored to the needs of individual music communities. Find out more musiclocal.co.uk

Launchpad is a talent development program that offers opportunities and support for emerging artists, musicians, producers, bands, composers and music professionals in the Yorkshire region. Find out more at launchpad-music.com