Samuel Nicholls / whiskas (Director & Founder - Launchpad)
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.