Lins Wilson

Lins Wilson is a music creator, sound designer and project producer. Her experience working in the creative industries over almost two decades has taken her to places far and wide - from performing at SXSW to supporting The Pixies; producing music video sets for Nicki Minaj and Corinne Bailey Rae to theatre shows at The Barbican; fundraising, booking and self-releasing as psychy-alt-rock band Magick Mountain, to creating cello-led soundscapes for installations as Buffalo Sound Design, plus composing as a solo cellist.

She has played a huge amount of live and recorded sessions (including performing at the Brudenell Social Club in 10 different bands!) and secured funds for her own work including Help Musicians, Arts Council (DYCP + Project Grants), Francis Chagrin Award and ReBalance. Lins has also supported other artists to successfully apply for funding.

Having been described as a ‘cultural-polymath’, Lins is hugely passionate about creating and connecting people through music and culture. She does this via current roles as Project Operations Manager / Lead Mentor for Music Local / Launchpad and mentoring for Mastered's Music Skills Bootcamp. Lins is keen to impart knowledge and support early stage artists, especially those from Yorkshire/the North/ marginalised backgrounds. She is always working away at developing new music, projects and performances, and being mum to Iggy.

Specialist Subject/s :

Direct to Fan Releases / Funding / General Release Planning / Live / Merch / Personal Career Development / Recording Music Videos & Live Sessions

Lily Blakeney-Edwards

Lily Blakeney Edwards is an Artist Liaison Assistant at Sentric Music, a music publisher which represents over 400,000 artists across the globe. With 5 years of experience working as a music journalist, as well as operating as a musical artist and vocalist, Lily has an extremely well-rounded background in Music and a truly unique perspective within the music industry. Within the year she has worked with Live Nation, Jazz North and Big Indie Records, and given talks at The University of Leeds, and Leeds Beckett University.

Specialist Subject/s :

Funding, General Release Planning, Neighbouring Rights / PPL (royalties related to owning a recording), PR / Radio, PRS, Publishing & Syncs (royalties relating to songwriting)

Lucy Woolley

Lucy is a Creative Producer and accredited Coach based in Manchester, specialising in live events and artist development across the jazz and improvised music sector.

Current roles include Festival Director at Lancaster Jazz Festival, an annual five day festival taking place in September, and as Network Manager for the Jazz Promotion Network, a network bringing together everyone working in the jazz sector across the UK and Ireland. Lucy has previously worked as Programmes Manager for Jazz North and Festival Manager of Manchester Jazz Festival.

As a freelance consultant, Lucy has worked with organisations such as Edition Records, Matt and Phreds, Attitude is Everything and Walk The Plank.

As well as the specialist subjects listed below, Lucy is able to advise on portfolio/freelance careers and work/life balance challenges.

Lucy is an accredited coach and a trained mental health first aider.

Specialist Subject/s :

Approaching Record Labels / Booking Tours / Funding / General Release Planning / Live / Personal Career Development

Amy Illingworth

Amy is one half of alt-indie band, Sunflower Thieves, whose debut EP, ‘Someone To Be There For’ has surpassed 1.2 million streams, received huge airplay support from the likes of Radio 1’s Sian Eleri and 6Music’s Steve Lamacq. Sunflower Thieves were previously longlisted for Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition, named as PRS’ Magazine's ‘Ones To Watch’ and have played shows with Flyte, Say She She, Nell Mescal, Lewis Watson and Haley Blais.

Amy is an Artist Marketing Consultant for 7476 [Matilda Mann, Lexie Carroll, tinyumbrellas], working to ensure successful delivery of artist campaigns across marketing, social, creative and A&R.

Amy is also Events and Social Media Manager for The Attic, a raw event space playing host to gigs, photo/video shoots, workshops, songwriting, rehearsals and various other events.

Amy has several years’ experience across event/venue management, music PR, social media and artist liaison, working with the likes of: Sofar Sounds, DocFest, Bradford Lit Fest, Hanglands, Live at Leeds, Superfriendz, Leeds BID, Leeds 2023, Fever, etc.

Amy is on the FAC Artist Council, and has made numerous speaking appearances at industry events, including Abbey Road’s 'Equalise' and the Launchpad Talent Development Conference. With her experience as an independent artist and promoter, Amy can advise on designing, booking and being creative with live shows, with a special focus on nurturing an industry where the artist experience is a top priority. Amy can offer creative guidance on merch, release campaigns and personal career development.

Specialist Subject/s :

Booking Tours, Direct to Fan Releases, General Release Planning, Live, Merch

Abi Rudd

Abi is a music producer, studio and live sound engineer whose work has been featured on Spotify editorial playlists and BBC Introducing. She’s the audio editor for violinist Joel Sunny, a social media musician, with close to a combined 2 million followers on Tik Tok and Instagram.

In Leeds, Abi is currently working at the Howard Assembly Room. Responsible for taking on positions from backline tech to lighting and sound engineer. Freelancing, she has previously taken on contracts with Opera North, Leeds 2023 and Giles Peterson’s We Out Here Festival.

Motivated to nurture young talent, she’s run studio engineering workshops for marginalised groups, with her previously Launchpad-supported project Not The Girlfriend (now @fortherecord_uk) at Eiger Studios, where she freelances as an engineer.

Abi is also a part of the most recent cohort of the Music Leader’s Network. During this programme, she engaged in peer-to-peer mentoring with women from organisations such as the MPG, AIM Ireland and Polydor Records. Discussions revolved around possible issues that women could face in the music industry, issues they do face, and how best these should be handled to make long-lasting change. 

Specialist Subject/s :

Songwriting, Production & Creative Arrangement

Simeon Walker

Leeds-based pianist & composer Simeon Walker has quickly emerged as a leading light in the burgeoning Modern Classical scene, performing and touring extensively across the UK and Europe. He has supported S. Carey, Neil Cowley, LYR, Submotion Orchestra, Loscil & Erland Cooper and performed notable live sets at Latitude & Timber Festivals. In addition to his acclaimed first two albums 'Mono' and 'Winnow', he will conduct a 28-date UK tour in Autumn 2023 in support of his latest 'Imprints' release, whilst his piece  ‘Reverie’ features on the first official Piano Day compilation by Berlin-based LEITER label, alongside Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds and Chilly Gonzales.

Regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC 6Music, BBC Introducing, KEXP and Scala Radio, his music has received overall listening figures in excess of 30 million streams across platforms. He also founded and curates Brudenell Piano Sessions - an intimate and varied live music series highlighting the diverse music being composed and performed on the piano, hosted at Leeds’ iconic Brudenell Social Club.

Having received funding support from Help Musicians, PRS Foundation and Arts Council England for his work as an independent artist, Simeon also performs regularly across numerous genres and contexts, whilst also working as a freelance session musician, composer & arranger, educator and consultant.

Specialist Subject/s :

Booking Tours, Building Your Brand, Direct to Fan Releases, Funding, General Release Planning, Live, Merch, Personal Career Development, Recording Music Videos / Live Sessions, Songwriting / Production / Creative Arrangement, Spotify/Streaming Economy

Lily Sturt-Bolshaw

Lily is a producer/songwriter, mix and mastering engineer, Project Manager and one half of Alt/indie band, Sunflower Thieves.

She graduated from Leeds Conservatoire in 2018 with a BAhons in Music Production and went on to work at Stylus as a Front of House/Monitor Engineer/Stage Manager. Alongside being employed by Leeds Uni Union, she also worked as a freelance sound engineer in venues around Leeds such as Oporto, Hyde Park Book Club and Headrow House and has toured with Clean Cut Kid.

She has since moved away from working in live sound, but she hasn't strayed too far for her work with Come Play With Me. Lily runs CPWM's Come Platform Me: Introduction To Sound programme for people from marginalised backgrounds who want to become live and studio engineers. With help from Eiger Studios and HPBC, the first round of this programme has been an incredible success and is to be repeated later this year!

Lily's band Sunflower Thieves are an independent, self managed and self produced project formed of Lily and childhood friend Amy. They have been writing, producing, performing and releasing together since 2016 and have been played on Radio 1 + 6, BBC Introducing, Radio Scotland and more. They have toured and gigged with the likes of Flyte, Lewis Watson, Memorial, Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly and Siv Jakobsen and will be releasing their second EP this year!

Specialist Subject/s :

General Release Planning / Direct to Fan Releases / PRS, Publishing & Syncs (royalties related to songwriting) / Neighbouring Rights / PPL (royalties related to owning recordings) / Live / Merch / Building Your Brand / Songwriting / Production / Creative Arrangement /  Live Sound, Running Events

Janine Ellis

Janine is a fully qualified psychotherapeutic counsellor with a master’s degree in Integrative Counselling. She is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. As well as her private practice, Janine works as a relationship counsellor for Relate Bradford & Leeds.

Completing her master’s at Leeds Beckett, her research explored music industry therapists' experiences of clients affected by sexism and misogyny. As a feminist, Janine's therapy practice is trauma informed, anti-racist, LGBTQ+ aware and inclusive. She adapts her approach to meet each client’s individual needs by working pluralistically. She believes we are all unique and complex beings, so collaboration and client preference are key within her therapeutic approach.

Before re-training, Janine worked in the music industry in London for twenty years at various cult independent record labels such as Wichita, Rough Trade, PIAS and Warp Records where she worked on several top ten album campaigns by the likes of Bloc Party, Belle & Sebastian, Temples, Mystery Jets and Squid. Therefore, as well as working with a wide range of people, cultures and experiences, she now provides specialist counselling to musicians and music industry workers, as she understands the unique nature and distinct needs of the music community.

Besides her work as a therapist, Janine also co-runs a monthly radio show called Buzz playing choice indie/punk/shoegaze/stoner rock cuts on BCB 106.6FM in her hometown of Bradford.

Specialist Subject/s :

Building Your Brand / Personal Career Development

General Release Planning, Building Your Brand, Independent labels, Music and mental health, Sexism and Misogyny in The Music industry

Angharad Cooper

Angharad is a consultant, producer and coach working with artists, creatives and organisations internationally to develop projects, increase impact and facilitate change. Her specialities include experimental music and sound art, traditional musics, fundraising and music policy. She is Director of Operations at the Center for Music Ecosystems and a board member at the Daphne Oram Trust. She was elected as board member of the European Music Council in 2023, and works as coach and mentor at Sound and Music, Help Musicians UK and Non Classical, supporting artists to make their ambitious creative ideas a reality.

Specialist Subject/s :

Approaching Record Labels / Booking Tours / Building Your Brand / Funding / Personal Career Development / PR & Radio / PRS, Publishing & Syncs (royalties relating to songwriting) / Spotify & Streaming Economy

Emily Savage

Emily Savage is an artist manager, music publicist and journalist, with a focus on early-stage artist development.

Based in Manchester, Emily works both in the local emerging music scenes and on a wider scale. As an artist manager, she facilitates and develops aspiring artists in the North. Through working closely with Stockport-based pop artist Beth McKenzie and Leeds alt-pop artist Lois, her day-to-day experience ranges from managing artist brand building and release schedules to liaising with labels, PR, producers, booking agents, and more, both in the UK and across the world.

Having initially started out in the industry as a music journalist, (current bylines in DIY, The Line of Best Fit, and When The Horn Blows), Emily is well-versed within the press scene. In her role as a publicist at Liberty Music PR, she runs press campaigns and collaborates as part of a global team to champion and empower independent artists. With further experience freelancing in writing artist biographies, creating electronic press kits (EPKs), and previous work for EMI Records/Universal Music Group, Emily combines her knowledge of the press scene with direct experience working with artists.

Uplifting creatives who are underrepresented in the industry, specifically female and queer artists within the pop scene, is a driving factor throughout all of Emily’s work. Alongside her various roles, she regularly creates resources for artists and aspiring industry professionals, offering informative and accessible breakdowns of industry topics. 

Specialist Subject/s :

General Release Planning, Building Your Brand, PR / Radio, A&R Research, Music Journalism/Press

Emily Marlow

Emily Marlow (she/her) is a creative producer and programmer, based in the North of England, working across music, art and film events and projects. With a special focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, Emily is passionate about supporting local creative communities and platforming marginalised people through her work.As part of the Music Local team, Emily leads the events programme, delivering conferences, gigs, workshops and industry socials to connect, inspire and empower people working in music across Yorkshire.Previously, Emily has been part of the Come Play With Me team, as their Diversity Projects Coordinator, was a founding member of Girl Gang Leeds, a non-profit set up to create fun, safe and empowering spaces for women and people of marginalised genders, and has worked with freelance clients such as Leeds 2023, Sheaf St and Wow Festival.

Chris Sharkey

Chris Sharkey is a musician from the North-East of England. Based in Leeds since 1999, Chris has dedicated the last 20 years to making forward-thinking new music that blurs boundaries between improvisation, production, composition and the associated genres of these often separated fields. He is an active national and international artist, performing with Charles Hayward (This Heat) , Jack Wylie (Portico Quartet), Roller Trio, Anton Eger’s Æ, Joshua Blackmore’s SiZE, Acoustic Ladyland, trioVD, Shiver, The Geordie Approach, and as a solo artist. Chris is a also a producer and has recorded, mixed, remixed and mastered music for for Keeley Forsyth, Matthew Bourne, Seb Rochford, Oliver Coates ACV, Mole, Taupe, Troyka, World Service Project, trioVD, Shiver, Beyond Albedo, Session Fries, Lara Jones, J Frisco, The Geordie Approach, Roller Trio, The Orchid and The Wasp and more. His areas of interest are improvisation, composition, integration of electronics/ processing in live performance (hardware + software), recording and production, collaborative projects, artistic practice, learning & participation, group improvisation / conduction, cultivating innovation. Chris is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire specialising in jazz guitar, ensemble studies and performance with electronics. He is also Jazz Guitar Professor at London Performing Academy of Music (LPMAM) and a Guest Lecturer at NYJO Jazz Exchange & Aldeburgh Young Musicians.