The female-led festival redefining women's place in the UK music scene

The lack of female headliners at major festivals in the UK is no secret. Campaigns highlighting this issue are as regular as festival season itself, but this fact sits amongst a wider discussion of women’s place in the festival scene, and the question of whether or not festivals truly value and welcome women.

Summer’s End Angus (SEA) is a brand-new, female-founded and female-funded independent music festival aiming to address these issues, launching in the North East of Scotland from 14–16 August 2026.

Alongside the bookings issue, there lies a deeper issue: fewer than 14% of UK events are run by women. SEA aims to be a crucial step towards much needed change. Rather than being tentative, SEA is being built at scale and built to last, with plans to be Scotland’s third-largest multi-day music festival.

The festival is on track to set a UK record as the largest year-one independent music festival, redefining what’s possible for new, independently run events and who gets to build them.

Within the wider SEA festival, The Garden @ SEA is a one‑day festival, the main festival’s “sharper sister” - not a side stage, not a theme, not a diversity add‑on. Where most festivals say women are welcome, The Garden is built for women, with female and queer leadership at every decision making level.

With a line up of 100% women, The Garden looks to set an example and show festival bookers what’s possible and what's out there. Their first line up — Paris Paloma, girli, Lucia & The Best Boys, Becky Sikasa, Shears, Katie Nicholl, Cherry and Shwan — showcases an enormous breadth of incredible talent and sets a beautiful standard for years to come. “This lineup and event reflects the strength, edge, anger and grit as much as it does the joy and reflection,” says founder Katrina Hutchinson-O’Neill.

As a space built around women, The Garden, and also SEA more generally, aims to address the on going issue of sexual harassment that women face at fesivals. Speaking to Polly Shute, organiser of similarly female centred music festival Out & Wild for queer women and non-binary people, she tells us “Safety is key, with 40% of women under 40 receiving unwanted sexual attention at standard festivals (YouGov) — inclusive spaces create a sense of safety, connection and belonging.”

Beyond making much needed strides in safety and gender equity, Shute says spaces like The Garden and Out and Wild serve the community of women that find themselves there: “[these spaces] create a sense of community. I believe social isolation is a growing issue, inclusive events like Out & Wild provide real life connections that are really hard to find elsewhere.”

Gay Times spoke to artists playing The Garden @ SEA about why these spaces matter and what it means to perform there.

GIRLI

"I was honestly giddy when I was asked to play this festival, because 99.9% of festivals and lineups that are out there and that I get asked to play are very male dominated. Especially in a time where misogyny feels like it's on a really scary rise, it felt like such a breath of fresh air to be asked to play something that will be woman-centered and will be such a safe and exciting place, to not only play, but also just exist as a female artist."

MACIE NYAH

"I think as long as it remains unequal, these lineups highlight that there is still an issue. It allows us to continue the conversations around it in interviews like this one, which I think is extremely crucial as it's a chance to lay out a reasoning why."

CHERRY

"I think that it’s a challenge for women to get a seat at the table because the table is chaired by ego-driven testosterone-fuelled men who reckon females have never even heard of a guitar, nevermind actually being able to play it. Festivals like The Garden are giving us an opportunity many other festivals don’t because they actively seek out and scout talented women, rather than spout age old rhetoric that women and girls cannot rock out as much as men and boys can."

LYDIA THE BARD

"Studies have shown that too many women experience some form of sexual harassment at festivals. When you attend a festival, you should be there to enjoy yourself with friends, not constantly scanning your surroundings out of fear. Not only do I think The Garden will be a safe and fun space for people to truly let their guard down, but it will also be a statement to all other festivals to do better and create spaces that are truly inclusive for everyone."

BECKY SIKASA

"I think systemic issues need to be tackled in many different places at once. It’s not enough to only look at big stages and who gets to play there — [we need to look at] who gets access to arts education and cultural spaces, [who gets] to move comfortably within these spaces. How are people of different genders, but also financial backgrounds, disabilities, sexual orientation, ethnicities etc. being supported or encouraged within their local communities and scenes?"

Experience something that goes beyond “safe space” culture for yourself; The Garden @ SEA Festival is a zero tolerance set up and 100% female forward.