Where It All Began: An independent UK Festival built by it’s community.
A final call to become an Original Founder of the UK’s first crowdfunded, not-for-profit grassroots festival.
£68,000 raised. No paid ads. No line-up. No corporate backers; just a powerful concept and a community backing independent culture.
A new UK festival is being built in a way the industry rarely sees. ‘Where It All Began’; a not-for-profit, strictly grassroots, independent event, has raised £68,000 through crowdfunding without spending a penny on paid advertising, without headline names as bait, and without relying on ticketing loans or major sponsors.
Instead, the project has grown through email, organic social media and partnerships with grassroots venues and festival organisations, proving there is still public appetite for a festival model rooted in fairness, sustainability and independence.
Designed for 3,000–5,000 people, the festival is scaling only to what is genuinely affordable; keeping overheads tight and ensuring every pound raised is reinvested into the event.
“This isn’t how festivals are supposed to be built,” said the organisers. “That’s the point.”
No line-up. No ad spend. No compromises.
Where It All Began is flipping the traditional festival playbook:
No risky cash-flow loans.
No bloated overheads.
Programming rooted in collaboration, grassroots culture and independent music.
A not-for-profit structure where funds go back into the festival, generating kickbacks for venue and festival partners, whilst keeping ticket prices fair and accessible.
The Crowd funder closes 31st January, the festival is entering its most important phase. The final push isn’t only about fundraising; it’s about visibility. A strong closing total will help unlock national press attention, wider reach and momentum ahead of the festival moving onto a ticketing platform, public proof that a community-led, ethical festival model can work at scale.
Become an Original Founder
Anyone who backs the Crowd funder before 31st January will be permanently recognised and rewarded as an Original Founder, supporters who helped build the festival before a single act was announced.
For anyone who cares about:
The future of independent festivals
Grassroots music and culture
The discovery of new music and emerging artists
Fairer ticket prices
A festival scene not dictated by corporations
This is the moment to be part of it from the start.
One last push. 31 January.
Back the Crowd funder. Become an Original Founder.
Where It All Began… Begins with you.
WIAB is brought to you by ‘Grassroots Rising CiC’, the team behind Independent Touring Festival Venue; Chai Wallahs.
“MVT warmly welcomes the new festival model for ‘Where It All Began’. It’s an important opportunity to bring together independent musicians, venues, promoters, bookers, festivals, and the whole ecosystem in which grassroots culture exists. It’s this kind of initiative that will foster multiple platforms for emerging artists to perform but also provide great spaces for some of the country’s best loved grassroots venues to present the breadth and depth of their programming.”
– Mark Davyd, CEO, Music Venue Trust
Jem Girl at the Piano 