Joe GallopTEG Live Europe is to launch InterMission Festival, a one-day multiroom event in Birmingham that has been set up to address the lack of diversity at music festivals.
InterMission is programmed by TEG promoter and event founder Betty Adesanya, who said the festival will present a gender-balanced event and will celebrate music and creatives from underrepresented backgrounds.
Taking place at Birmingham’s The Mill (cap. 1,200) in Digbeth on 22 July, InterMission will feature acts from the UK’s jazz, afro, global, electronica and hip-hop scenes.
The festival will run a day-to-night program, featuring two stages of live music, a creative area with music industry lead talks, DJ workshops led by Pioneer, mental health workshops, and an outdoor yard with food traders and stalls.
“We also need to address the lack of black and minority promoters, agents and event managers”
The festival has also collaborated with local female and gender-minority collectives Selextorhood and Saffron Record’s: Mix Nights, who will be hosting a roof-top takeover.
With more than 10 years of event experience within the UK and European festival sector, Adesanya said she is passionate about curating spaces for marginalised communities.
Adesanya said, “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. From personal experience, music festivals aren’t always a space that minorities feel included, so InterMission is an invitation for all to join.
“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. 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.”
While more acts are to be confirmed, the line-up includes jazz/hip-hop collective Steam Down (pictured), Shy One, Grove, Tash LC, QuinzeQuinze, Hagan, TC and the Groove Family and GladeMarie.