Artist Development Days

Jazz North and Brighter Sound are teamed up to host a relaxed and informative artist networking event at one of Manchester's most loved venues for jazz, The Yard.  Flipping the usual day on its head, we kicked off with a jam hosted by Manchester's Xaris (Trees.R.Good) and Mara Cruz before diving into a day of real conversation about what it means to shape your career as a jazz+ artist. 

We were joined by four fantastic artist-facilitators from different walks of jazz including Afro-psychedelic funk trombonist & percussionist Hannabiell Sanders (Hannabiell & the Midnight Blue, Ladies of the Midnight Blue), Alt-Soul singer August Charles, multi-instrumentalist electronic leaning artist Alan Keary (Shunya) and Private Joy aka Pops Roberts (Lovescene). 

Upcoming

Thu 23 May 2024

Jazz North x Launchpad
Hyde Park Book Club, Snug Bar
27-29 Headingley Lane
Headingley
Leeds LS6 1BL

Emerging Artist Development Day

Lou Barnell

‘Finding your niche - creative identity, values and goals.’ 

Meet Lou: I am an award-winning vocalist, sound and performance artist, one of Sound and Music's New Voices 2022 Composers, and one of Manchester Jazz Festival's Hothouse Residents 2023. I was winner of the 2021 Oram Awards, supported by The PRS Foundation and BBC Radiophonic Institute in recognition of innovation in sound and technology.

My work looks green, fertile, squishy, womb-like, joyful, and unsettling at times. I want to give language to my alienating and disorientating experiences of being a neurodivergent woman. My music communicates my synaesthetic experience of sound, hyperfocus and sensory overload. I use wearable instruments and sculptures to contain, shape and release my body and voice, and to create a soft immersive approach to performance I call 'Live Dreaming'.

Nishla Smith

‘Getting gigs - different types of promoters, making your approach.’ 

Meet Nishla:  Nishla Smith is an artist/curator, influenced by the musical language of jazz and driven by storytelling across her diverse practice. Her debut album, ‘Friends With Monsters’ was released on Whirlwind Recordings to critical acclaim, with Downbeat USA saying “While Smith’s singing is an entrancing beauty of its own, the true trump cards are her lyrics and melodies.”

Nishla is a Peter Whittingham Jazz Award winner and an alumni of Serious’ Take Five. She played the titular bird in Atri Banerjee’s acclaimed production of ‘Kes’, at Bolton Octagon and Theatre By The Lake in Spring 2022, for which she won a UK Theatre Award for ‘Best Supporting Performer’, and has just finished a run as ‘The Jazz Singer’, a role she originated in Emma Baggott’s Spring 2024 adaptation of ‘A Taste of Honey’ at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She is especially interested in unravelling the divisions of genre and making work that sits at the intersection of music, visual art, dance and spoken word. Collaboration and curation is a distinctive strand of her practice. She programmes the Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, putting together a diverse cultural offering, across classical, jazz, folk and South Asian music, spoken word, and film. As part of her role at the HAR, she recently devised and directed a staged adaptation of Ravel’s Ma Mère l'Oye for 4-handed piano, contemporary dancers and storyteller.

“Her voice is exquisite, a symbol of unreachable beauty.” The Guardian

Will Lakin

‘Building your audiences -  live and online’ 

Meet Will: Will Lakin is a guitarist, songwriter, band leader, musical director, tour manager and festival director who works with The Belgrave House Band, Howlin’ Ric & The Rocketeers, Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band and Salémango Festival to name a few. 

He was also a co-founder and coordinator of Leeds based independent record label and events collective, Tight Lines Records. Keen to platform and support Leeds’ vibrant Jazz-adjacent scene, Will organised nearly 100 events and oversaw many of the label’s catalogue.

Leeds Jazz Festival and Jazz North are teaming up to bring you a relaxed and informative event for artists on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd May at Hyde Park Book Club with our partners, Launchpad. As part of our support for emerging artists, Jazz North will be releasing a comprehensive guide to kicking off your live career in jazz: our Emerging Artists’ Live Toolkit. 

This day is all about taking a deep dive into some of those topics, connecting with like-minded artists and sharing your own insights.  With the help of some three brilliant guest speakers (see below), we will be exploring creative identity, establishing your values and goals, finding your place on the live music scene and growing your live and online audience. 

We’d love to see you there. Spaces are limited so sign up in advance to secure your space and complimentary drink. 

Sign up on our google form here to register your attendance! 

We’d love to see you at Hype Park Book Club for the rest of the evening where live music and the Hyde Park Jazz Club jam session will take place (bring your instruments!). Visit here (HPBC) for more information and to buy tickets. 

Guest speakers

Event Schedule 

15:00 Arrive and registration 

15:15 Welcome and Intros (15 mins) 

15:30 Finding your niche - creative identity, values and goals 

16:20 Break (10 mins) - post it notes - share your values on the wall 

16.30 Getting gigs - different types of promoters, making your approach

17.20 Break (10 mins)

17.30 Building your audiences - live and online 

18.20 Close

Jazz North x Brighter Sound
The Yard
Manchester