Leeds Music Hub is the brainchild of Kate Zezulka – a concept that has been two (very long) years in the gestating. Set to open any time now, the impressive premises on Wood Lane, Headingley consists of teaching and practise rooms, cafe, meeting spaces, a shop and exhibition area. As such, the ‘Hub has been designed to provide a social and creative focal point for aspiring musicians in the area – facilities are open to all ages and abilities and the variety of instruments and disciplines that lessons will be provided on is vast.
The Leeds Music Hub (LMH) website offers a glimpse of how Zezulka sees the organisation evolving into “a tangible day-time presence of all things Leeds music”; operating as a live music venue, offering lessons, providing a drop-in centre and becoming a repository for an anthology of local music. Despite struggling to find funding and almost losing the building, Kate remains positive about the LMH and the inspiration it can provide to Leeds-based musicians. I caught up with her to ask a few questions about her motivation for opening the space, the trials and tribulations involved, the future of Leeds music, and which cakes are on the cafe menu:
Hey Kate, can you tell us a bit more about how the Hub is organised – who it is aimed at and who you see your main audience being?
At the risk of sounding a bit broad, anyone who likes music! The shop and café are just drop-in, so no entrance fee or anything for that. Some of the events are going to be free and some will be ticketed or pay on the door; the private teaching will financially run just like any other music school so we can pay the musicians involved fairly. We’re grant-funded at the moment but we’re a not-for-profit which means any money we do generate from our activities goes straight back into the business so we can pay our rent and (if we’re lucky!) extend what the Hub can do. In the long run, we’d like there to be enough people using the space for the Hub to be able to survive independently, just off the income from the activities and the café.
Sounds great! What was the inspiration or impetus behind your dream to make the LMH a reality?
I’m not exactly sure! I think it was the result of a lot of things that I’d been thinking about music in Leeds – particularly that need for somewhere to congregate during the day and for an access point to Leeds’ musical activity, which is still relatively underground. Also issues like how local artists can promote their work and find flexible employment that supports their other musical projects but keeps them in a creative context; making music learning (from the basics up to the really in-depth) practical and accessible rather than the ‘stuffy’ stereotype; opening up the different musical subcultures to groups who might not know how to approach that kind of creative activity… That sort of thing all informed the overall plan.
How do you view Leeds as a music destination? Is the aim to promote and celebrate the City as such? Where does the future lie for the Leeds music scene?
Definitely – the Hub’s there, as much as anything, to raise the profile of Leeds’ exciting musical activity, as well as strengthen and support all that’s going on in and around the city. I was born in Leeds so I have an inbuilt bias when it comes to Leeds music. It definitely is a very supportive community though, and that makes a huge difference to how active a creative scene it is. Also the fact that it’s relatively small and close-knit, with the ‘infrastructure’ not removed at all from the music action itself… In terms of the future, that’s an interesting one. There always seem to be new and interesting schemes and musical projects appearing and overall the music communities are fairly self-sufficient, so it’s hard to imagine it faltering in any serious way. I hope the Hub will be a nice perch to watch it grow from, though!
Excellent, we wish everyone at the Hub all the best! Before you go, please tell me about the events you already have planned and also if you’ll have vegan cake on the menu…
We’ve got lots of different formats of events in the pipeline, from the in-store/acoustic sets, music/industry advice sessions and workshops to more interactive and fun formats like clubs/meeting groups, masterclasses and general music geekery. We’re also sorting quite a few interdisciplinary musical things out (like music-related visual arts and media like that), which we’re really keen to include as much as we can. The more stuff we book, the more excited I get, actually!
As for cake, Jo, our chef, whips up the baked goods. She has giddying numbers of recipes. In fact, I remember a very tasty vegan dark chocolate concoction which she tempted us all with last year, so I think she’ll be more than happy with that request!
For more information please visit the Leeds Music Hub website: http://www.theleedsmusichub.co.uk/