FROM BRUM TO SHAMBALA: PUNCH RECORDS PUTS NEXT GEN CREATIVES CENTRE STAGE

Birmingham’s next generation of creative talent has gone from the studio and classroom to one of the UK’s leading independent festivals, as Punch Records celebrates the latest success of its flagship Community Routes programme.

Community Routes 2026 has given 50 emerging creatives from Birmingham and the West Midlands an intensive route into the creative industries, connecting them with some of the biggest names in music, broadcasting and culture before giving participants the opportunity to put those skills into practice in a paid role at Shambala Festival.

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And the journey is far from over. Participants will now move into the next phase of Community Routes, including further industry masterclasses and the opportunity for selected creatives to secure commissioning support and funding to turn their own creative ideas into reality.

It marks another major step forward for the Birmingham-founded Punch Records programme, which was created to find and develop talented 18 to 25-year-olds, particularly those building their careers outside traditional education and established creative-industry routes.

FROM LEARNING FROM THE INDUSTRY TO WORKING IN IT

This summer’s intensive Birmingham residency brought together emerging DJs, vocal performers, radio broadcasters, photographers and digital artists for a bootcamp-style week of practical development, collaboration and industry access.

The 2026 cohort heard directly from leading names including Donae’o, Girls Don’t Sync and Namywa, while participants also visited BBC Asian Network, giving them an opportunity to experience a major national broadcaster from the inside and understand more about careers within radio and music.

But some of the most exciting work came from the participants themselves.
Rather than operating as five separate creative camps, the different disciplines were encouraged to collaborate throughout the residency. New working relationships formed across the cohort, including two DJs joining forces with a Vocal Performance participant to create a new track together.

For Punch Records, that cross-pollination is central to Community Routes: developing individual talent while helping young creatives understand how the wider industry works and, crucially, introducing them to the people they may work alongside in the future.

Bradley Morrison, Head of Marketing & Communications at Punch Records, said:
“Without a doubt, this is the most talented year of talent from any programme I have witnessed from around the region. Seeing this cohort perform in front of thousands, build their confidence, and make new friends along the way cements the importance of this programme, especially in an industry that has seen a decline in youth-arts based initiatives.

“There’s a moment during Community Routes when you see people stop thinking of themselves as someone who wants to work in the creative industries and start seeing themselves as somebody who belongs there. That’s what this programme is really about.

“We can teach skills and bring some brilliant people into the room, but what happens when 50 young creatives start talking, collaborating and pushing one another is incredibly powerful. This year we had DJs collaborating with vocalists and completely new creative relationships forming in front of us.

“They’ve been able to learn from people such as Donae’o, Girls Don’t Sync and Namywa, see behind the scenes at BBC Asian Network and then take that experience onto a professional festival site at Shambala. They aren’t simply being told what a creative career could look like. They are starting to live it.

“And importantly, Community Routes doesn’t finish when the residency ends. The next stage is about continuing that development through masterclasses and giving some of these creatives the chance to secure a commission and a budget to make an idea of their own happen. We want Community Routes to open the first door, then help them work out how to keep opening doors for themselves.”

50 CREATIVES. ONE FESTIVAL. PAID EXPERIENCE.

A major new element of Community Routes 2026 was its partnership with Shambala Festival, which took place at Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens in Northamptonshire from 27 to 30 August.

The festival attracted more than 15,000 people, giving the Community Routes cohort the opportunity to experience the scale and demands of a major independent UK festival. Crucially, participants were not expected simply to observe or work for exposure. Every Community Routes participant involved at Shambala was paid for their work or showcase, providing tangible professional experience and reinforcing the principle that young creative talent has value.

Selected participants were given performance and showcase opportunities, while the wider experience allowed the cohort to put into practice the skills, confidence and industry understanding developed during Community Routes.

The opportunity represents a significant bridge between grassroots talent development in Birmingham and professional cultural platforms nationally.

It also reflects Punch Records’ wider ambition to help retain creative talent in Birmingham and the West Midlands by showing young people that it is possible to build networks, experience and sustainable creative careers from the region.

TALENT DOESN’T ONLY COME THROUGH TRADITIONAL ROUTES

Community Routes has grown rapidly since its launch. This year, more than 300 young people applied for the programme, competing for just 50 places – another record breaking year of applications and proof of how much this program is needed.

Many applicants and participants have developed their talent outside university and other formal creative education pathways, something Punch believes demonstrates the depth of creative potential that exists within Birmingham’s communities but can easily be missed by conventional recruitment and development routes.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

For the 2026 cohort, Shambala is not the finishing line. Punch Records will continue working with participants through a programme of Community Routes Masterclasses, developing the professional and commercial skills required to turn creative ability into a sustainable career.

There will also be another opportunity to take an idea beyond the drawing board through the Community Routes Commissions programme.

Selected creatives will be given financial and developmental support to bring original projects to life, building on the commissioning model introduced following the 2025 residency.

The initiative is designed to provide something emerging creatives rarely receive at the beginning of their careers: a budget, professional support and the freedom to prove what they can do with them.

Community Routes forms part of Punch Records’ long-term commitment to nurturing grassroots creative talent in Birmingham and the West Midlands and removing some of the financial, structural and network barriers that can prevent talented young people from entering the industry.