Returning to Kyiv’s Dovzhenko Film Studio on 22–23 August, Brave! Factory brings together more than 50 artists across seven stages for its seventh edition. This year’s programme marks the festival’s biggest international lineup since the beginning of the full-scale war, alongside an expanded live programme and a new art programme curated by Ukrainian artist Oleksiy Sai.
What began as a series of parties at Closer has grown into one of Ukraine’s most distinctive electronic music festivals, shaped as much by its changing spaces as by its musical programme. For its founders, the idea has always been less about scale than about creating a temporary space for experimentation, connection and moments that disappear as quickly as they arrive.
Ahead of this year’s edition, we spoke with the Brave! Factory team about the festival’s origins, its evolving relationship with Kyiv, the balance between Ukrainian and international artists, and what it means to keep building a cultural space in the city today.
What inspired you to create Brave! Factory and how has its original vision evolved over seven editions?
I have no idea what inspired us. It just happened. We were playing around, doing things at Closer, and at some point there were simply too many people for one room. So we rented another space in the factory and turned it into a contemporary art gallery and a second dance floor for big monthly parties.
Then I started playing around with the name for those parties too.
I had two ideas: Brave! and Factory. I liked “Brave!” because it means courage — and because, conveniently, there’s a rave hiding inside it. I made totally different logos for both, but each was okay and somehow not enough. Then I put them together — and suddenly the whole concept clicked.
A factory is built for rationality: maximum output with minimum energy and money. Brave! Factory is a factory brave enough to stop producing and look at the sky. Its only product is a moment — joy, sadness, aggression, calm, whatever happens on the dance floor. You spend an absurd amount of energy and money making something that disappears the next day. I found that contradiction beautiful.
Eventually, we wanted it to become a proper independent festival, so we moved out of the Closer factory to a huge subway building plant. What started as two-floor events eventually grew into a 10,000-person festival, then COVID and the war forced us to reinvent it again.
Now we’re at Dovzhenko Film Studio, with its abandoned and working pavilions. Every new space becomes another challenge: how do we make Brave! Factory here? And how the hell do we connect it with cinema?
What does it mean to stage the festival in Kyiv today, particularly on the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day?
It means that people are brave enough — just like that factory — to continue living under bombing and rocket attacks.
This edition presents the festival’s biggest international lineup since the start of the full-scale invasion. How does it feel?
I mean… one might compare it with what we were doing before the war. But then I immediately slap that face — which happens to be mine — and say: “Fuck the comparison!”
So it feels great. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who dares to come to Ukraine and support us during these times.
How do you balance established international artists with Ukraine’s diverse and evolving electronic music community?
The fact that you noticed the balance is actually a good sign, because we’ve always tried to create it.
We never treated big international names better than a stranger asking for a lighter. Our residents,
Ukrainian musicians and DJs, and international guests all became part of the same musical story.
What mattered was how each artist’s part fit into that story.
We also never built our promotion around headliners. If you build an event around a big name, people come for that person, hear the set, and fuck off. At our events, people tended to stay because they wanted to know what happens next. So, rather than just bringing artists, we offer a journey.
Looking ahead, what role do you hope Brave! Factory will play in Ukrainian culture and in connecting Kyiv with the global creative community?
Brave! Factory has been connecting Kyiv with the global creative community from the very
beginning. Ironically, “brave” has become a Ukrainian national brand — and brave.ua, which was originally supposed to be our domain, was eventually given to a governmental organisation.
But “looking ahead” feels a little difficult right now. A few years ago, when we looked ahead, we saw completely different things.
Now we look ahead, then stop — and look up again.
To see how beautiful the sky is. Just like at Brave! Factory.
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