Summer Festival 2023: Music:Leeds Launchpad Showcase

An evening of music and panel discussion, for those aiming to build a career in music throughout Yorkshire.

Launchpad Panel & Networking | 5:00pm

The evening will feature an introduction to Launchpad - a scheme supporting emerging artists from the region - and details of programs that provide industry advice & mentoring, opportunities to perform live at festivals and events across the region, routes to funding that support project and personal development, and highlight further opportunities through organisations such as Youth Music, Help Musicians & PRS Foundation.

The panel will include discussion from those who have received support from Launchpad and other organisations, and built a career in music, talking through their experience, and passing on advice about working in the industry.

Following the panel discussion, there will be an opportunity to network in the Clothworkers Bar, where refreshments will be provided.

Launchpad Showcase | 8:00pm

Live performances by artists selected through Launchpad's Open Call:

Lauren Mikki
Leeds-based singer/songwriter Lauren Mikki combines ethereal soundscapes with raw emotion in her music. The effect is distinctive and dreamy, interweaving layered harmonies and an infallible sense of melody that makes for an unmissable live experience. Growing up travelling between her northern home and family in the south, Lauren was surrounded by diverse musical tastes that have subtly influenced her style. From a childhood dominated by the indie tastes of her parents, she went on to discover her love for the likes of Sabrina Claudio, Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey. Music is at the centre of her of life, and any style may become a source of inspiration for Lauren Mikki--something that is evident in her performances.

Claudia Fenoglio
A potential leading figure in the burgeoning UK folk field, Cheshire-born, now Leeds-based singer-songwriter knows how to pull you in with her emotion- Wonderland Magazine.

Having fallen in love with acoustic music visiting family in Nashville, Claudia takes inspiration from folk-infused, indie-pop contemporaries such as Julia Jacklin, Phoebe Bridgers and Samia. After moving to Leeds to study Film and Photography, she released the singles, ‘19 Again’ and ‘Like it Never Was’, after collaborating with producer Tim Malkin (Talkboy and Fizzy Blood), at The Green Room Studio in Leeds. Claudia started to build acclaim through garnering the attention of BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio, and playing festivals across the North such as Live at Leeds and Long Division.

After recently being announced as a Youth Music Next- Gen funded artist and supporting the likes of Abbie Ozard, Rianne Downey and Maria BC, Fenoglio is set to release her latest EP entitled, ‘What If I’m Here Forever?’, over the upcoming months.

Safii Koii

Singer and music producer with influences FKA twigs, Gorillaz, Jannelle Monae, Toro y Moi, and James Blake. Saffii describes her music as ‘honest, soulful and chaotic’.

Her debut single ‘POSTERS’ – which she wrote, mixed and engineered herself – was released in May 2021. Since its release she’s been featured as BBC Introducing Yorkshire’s Fresh Face and has gained support from Tom Robinson’s BBC6 Music Mixtape radio show.

Launchpad is supported by Youth Music, with public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, arts@leeds, Leeds City Council and PRS Foundation's Talent Development Partnership supported by PPL.

Panel
Lins Wilson, Magick Mountain / Launchpad (Chair)
Maddie Morris (Artist)
Graziana Presicce (Pianist)
Sammy Robinson (Brudenell Booker / Treeboy & Arc)
Chiedu Oraka, The Black Yorkshireman (Artist)

Showcase artists
Lauren Mikki
Claudia Fenoglio
Saffii Koii

Go behind the scenes with Launchpad and Music:Leeds here.