20 April 2022
Leeds Jazz Festival presents Welcome to Leeds stage
Photo credit: Andrew Benge. Isaac Saierre performing for Music:Leeds at Millennium Square in 2019
The inaugural Leeds Jazz Festival presents a pop-up Welcome to Leeds stage, bringing music out into the city centre.
The Welcome to Leeds Stage sees Launchpad / Music:Leeds, Jazz Leeds and Jazz North come together to curate a selection of emerging and diverse talent on the family friendly, open air free stage on Cookridge Street across the extended Bank Holiday weekend, Thursday 2nd-Sunday 5th June.
The Welcome to Leeds Stage is brought to the city by LeedsBID, in partnership with New Citizens, with additional support from Eiger Studios. Its welcometoleeds.co.uk/ digital platform showcases and celebrates all that is great about the city through engaging and inspiring stories about Leeds.
The stage, situated between The Light and Henry Moore Institute with its own seating area, will have live performances from 11am -6pm each day, with an early 3pm finish on Sunday. Food and drink will also be available to purchase from nearby Radisson Blu and Browns.
Thursday sees a selection of emerging talent supported by Music:Leeds Launchpad program, on Friday and Saturday JazzLeeds present ten of the best bands from the Leeds Jazz scene, and on Sunday Jazz North showcase a selection of artists supported through their Northern Line program.
James Wilson, Projects and Events Manager at LeedsBID, said: It is fantastic to partner with Leeds Jazz Festival to animate Leeds city centre with a free family-friendly pop-up stage on Cookridge Street. It’s a true representation of the collaborative nature of the BID, bringing together businesses like Browns Restaurants and Radisson Blu, and providing a platform for and celebrating early career musicians and respective jazz organisations.”
The wider Leeds Jazz Festival programme, running 1st-12th June 2022, celebrates the wide diversity of jazz in the city; from experimental jam nights to all-day parties featuring some of the hottest local and national DJs, and a whole range of ticketed and free to access gigs in between.
For tickets and further details visit leedsjazzfestival.com
Leeds Jazz Festival is produced by a city-wide network of partners, representing venues, programmers, musicians and more, coordinated by Music:Leeds and supported by Split Design, arts@leeds, Leeds City Council, LeedsBID, Leeds 2023 and bcausam.