Welcome to the first edition of InterMission Festival, taking place in Birmingham’s The Mill in Digbeth on July 22. The one-day event, curated by Betty Adesanya, aims to create a space that celebrates music and creatives from underrepresented backgrounds and will bring together sounds from the UK’s jazz, electronic, hip-hop, Afro, and global scenes.
“I’m so excited for the launch of InterMission. Birmingham is such a culturally rich place, it was important to me that the festival program reflects this; a celebration of different people and artists coming together in a space that feels safe, that's curated with them in mind,” says proudly Betty Adesanya. “From personal experience, music festivals aren't always a space that minorities feel included, so InterMission is an invitation for all to join,” she concludes. For this get-together, the festival founder and TEG Live Europe promoter has curated a line-up including the likes of Steam Down, Lyzza, Children of Zeus, Shy One, Toya Delazy, Tash LC, Ceeow, Nihiloxica, QuinzeQuinze, Hagan, TC and the Groove Family, GladeMarie, Sanity, Roseland En Why Cee, BootyBass, and many more.
Even though music is at the core of the festival with two different stages with an endless programme, there are many other activities just as important. For example, there’s a series of workshops ranging from DJ skill lessons led by Pioneer to others about mental health. There will also be a creative area with industry lead talks about inclusivity and diversity within the music industry, an outdoor yard with food stalls, and DJ sets in the rooftop, which will be taken over by female and gender-minority DJ collectives such as Selextorhood and Saffron Records.
“We need to keep pushing for more diverse and gender-balanced festival line-ups, but we also need to address the lack of black and minority promoters, agents, event managers, and live industry professionals running the shows,” says Betty Adesanya. “I’ve been working in the live music and festival industry for years and when it comes to the people at the top making the big decisions there is a long way to go,” she concludes.
Even though music is at the core of the festival with two different stages with an endless programme, there are many other activities just as important. For example, there’s a series of workshops ranging from DJ skill lessons led by Pioneer to others about mental health. There will also be a creative area with industry lead talks about inclusivity and diversity within the music industry, an outdoor yard with food stalls, and DJ sets in the rooftop, which will be taken over by female and gender-minority DJ collectives such as Selextorhood and Saffron Records.
“We need to keep pushing for more diverse and gender-balanced festival line-ups, but we also need to address the lack of black and minority promoters, agents, event managers, and live industry professionals running the shows,” says Betty Adesanya. “I’ve been working in the live music and festival industry for years and when it comes to the people at the top making the big decisions there is a long way to go,” she concludes.
Lyzza
Steam Down
Tash
TC and the Groove Family
Ceeow
QuinzeQuinze
