July 23, 2025 |
Few festivals are as beloved as Brainchild. The community-focused operation, helmed by Marina Blake, began as a 300-capacity event back in 2012, organised entirely by volunteers with an unwavering commitment to the cause. With a DIY spirit laced into its DNA, Blake founded Brainchild with friends when they were just 19, initially intending for it to serve as a space where unsigned musicians, emerging artists and students could come together and share their work. They did away with nonsensical hierarchies, opting instead for a system that prioritised passion over status. There was no such thing as headliners or VIP areas at Brainchild; the desire to have a fluid exchange of ideas and experiences wasn’t conducive to having barriers that divided some from others. What resulted was an event that became unmissable for those who knew and loved it, and one that enjoyed critical acclaim too, with Brainchild winning the AIM Award for Best Independent Festival in both 2015 and 2016.
It was to much dismay, then, when the team announced in 2022 that they would be going on hiatus. After cancelling the festival that year for a number of reasons including increased costs and supply chain issues, a statement cited that the team were “taking time out to heal, to grow and learn from other organisations” intending to come back to create events “powered by a pure and joyful intention.” Fast forward to today, and it seems like Brainchild has made good on its promise, staging its first independent event since the hiatus was enacted three years ago. Despite this time off, Desire Lines, the new event which took place at Deptford’s The Shipwright on Saturday, became a testament to the enduring impact Brainchild had on those around it, with tickets selling out in just 72 hours.
The decision to come back with an event like this can be partly attributed to the location itself, Blake explains. “We’ve been dreaming of doing something at The Shipwright for years. It’s just the kind of space that inspires you… It’s the only place we’ve been to in London where you don’t feel like you’re in London. [It’s a place] where we could nestle stages in trees and have big outdoor moments together while still feeling like it was a house party.” Always leading with intention and prioritising worthwhile experiences over rushing to get another date in the diary, returning in this way ensured Desire Lines stayed true to the Brainchild ethos from the off.
With a 500-strong capacity, the festival was divided into three sections, each hosting an assortment of talks, workshops, comedy and theatre performances, installations, live music and DJs. The aptly named River Stage, whose banks were lapped by the Thames and framed by the skyline across the water, billed musicians like the French-Senegalese singer Anaiis and a b2b with homegrown DJs Bushbby and Papaoul, both of whom have played a critical role in platforming Latinx creatives and bringing the sounds of Latin America to London’s grassroots club scene. The programming of the Piano Room centred around the concept of a work-in-progress, with all the acts trying out their material in performances that were at all different stages of development. The Marketplace hosted a series of talks from various grassroots collectives, including discussions on what we can learn from the past from Skin Deep Mag and reflections on resilience and the histories of social movements from MayDay Rooms.
The theme for curating the lineup, Blake says, was ‘desire lines’ itself – “trying to go where you want and do what calls you in your life.” Being selective was also integral to the process, given the much shorter time frame afforded to Desire Lines compared to the three days Brainchild had with its original format of a camping festival. However, Blake and the Brainchild team weren’t deterred by having less time than they used to. In fact, they looked at it as an opportunity to be even more purposeful, paying homage to the community around them with every precious minute they had. Conversations around financial pressures, burnout, staying connected and building resilience all informed the booking process, with the team viewing the line-up as a means of bringing in core members of the Brainchild family as well as fresh voices. Artists like leftfield indie rock band Lo Simple were billed for the first time, whereas for New York-based musician Duendita and the “profoundly stupid and stupidly profound” theatre duo Hotter Project, “it was an opportunity to reconnect,” says Blake.
The beauty of communities like the one created by Brainchild was emphasised in how comfortable the artists felt in taking risks. As Blake explains, it’s important not to “underestimate how powerful it is to share work in progress to a room of people who are rooting for you. It means you can fine-tune rather than doubt your foundations.” In turn, the schedule was chock-full of people trying out new material. This was on brand for Brainchild, which Blake explains has always had a “spirit of collaboration, experimentation and improvisation.” Wanting to pair this with “its connection to genre-defying and jazz-adjacent music,” Desire Lines also featured a collaboration with drummer and producer Chiminyo, where he curated a performance that brought together musicians Oscar Jerome, Wonky Logic, Jack Stephenson Oliver, Afla Sackey and Kaidi Akinnibi for an entirely improvised set.
Now more than ever, events like Desire Lines and teams like Brainchild are essential to keeping the independent, people-first elements of London’s music culture alive. As swelling ticket prices make it more difficult for music lovers to engage in nightlife and rent increases make it harder for venues to keep their doors open, the opportunities for emerging artists become fewer and farther between. Without a steady stream of new voices, the industry is set to become stale and monotonous, but Blake is intent on disrupting this. “If there aren’t spaces where non-professional makers and young or emerging promoters or artists can connect, build audiences, test their material and develop confidence, then there’s nothing for all the mainstream to play with, and cultural production is stifled,” she says. “Where are all the new ideas and scenes going to come from if there’s not a bubbling underground where something real gets made and developed? It’s vital, and we hope Brainchild can play an active role in helping build more sustainable and workable environments for this to happen.”
left: ‘Finaliiish’ by Sophie Molyneux
Blake’s approach to event curation is micro as well as macro. Understanding the benefit events like Desire Lines can bring for emerging talents is partly the fuel, but it’s also leaving its punters with something tangible, something they can take with them into the following weeks, perhaps even years. “Our hope and intention for the day was that people could be recharged, find creative inspiration and ideally, reconnect with themselves and what they love… We said openly in preparing people for the event that we want the day to meet them wherever they are in their journeys, because we know that many of our lives involve navigating funding rejections, draining jobs that leave no room for our pursuits or the practically impossible economics of being a professional artist. And that’s on top of the resilience we have to keep finding to resist and speak up against the dystopian state of our political reality in the UK and globally, to support Palestine, fighting for rights and freedoms that it’s unbelievable have come under threat.”
So what comes next for the Brainchild camp after a sell-out event? Well, there’s a few exciting bits on the horizon. They have a stage takeover at Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here featuring the likes of Astrid Sonne, Léa Sen and Footshooter, as well as a new day festival called Jazz On Wick produced in collaboration with Voices Radio, Orii Community and Colour Factory. But overall, they’re enjoying being more laid back. “We are really enjoying having no set commitments and getting to make it up as we go along, rather than having the financial pressure of [this] being our jobs as [it] once [was],” says Blake. Her finishing sentiment on where Brainchild will end up is simple. “Who knows!” And although there’s no rigid format, one thing’s for certain – wherever Brainchild goes next, there will be a stream of people dancing, singing and laughing behind it, cheering it on as it goes.
Photography by Dominic Markes.
