The Big Picnic Fest by SiSTEM UK

The Big Picnic Fest by SiSTEM UK is a community-powered celebration bringing together science, creativity, and culture in the heart of Brixton. This annual event builds on SiSTEM UK’s successful Big Picnic gatherings, which have been hosted twice before on a smaller scale. With this funding, we are expanding into a full-day community festival that connects families, schools, local businesses, and organisations through the shared language of science and wellbeing.

SiSTEM UK has already delivered impactful outreach through our work at the Lambeth Country Show, engaging families and young people in hands-on STEM activities and storytelling. These experiences, alongside our smaller-scale Big Picnic events, have shaped the foundations for this next step — expanding our community impact in a bigger, more inclusive way.

The Big Picnic Fest will transform a Brixton park into a space that celebrates learning, rest, and representation. It is a relaxed, intergenerational event where local people can eat together, explore science hands-on, and meet inspiring Black women in STEM.

The day will feature five vibrant zones:

The SiSTEM Sanctuary: A wellbeing hub centred on rest, movement, and connection. The morning will begin with outdoor Pilates sessions run by an organisation led by Black women doctors who promote women’s physical and mental health. Throughout the day, this space will host mindfulness activities and community wellbeing stalls run by charities and local businesses.

The Science Playground: An interactive STEM hub led by women engineers, medics, and innovators. Visitors can try simple experiments, explore real-life STEM tools, and take part in parent–child conversations about STEM careers, helping families feel confident supporting their children’s aspirations.

The Picnic Lawn: The heart of the festival. Families bring food or enjoy healthy picnic boxes from local vendors while joining in community games, networking, and laughter. It is a space where conversations about community, culture, and science flow naturally, because wellbeing often starts with connection.

Creative CTRL Corner: A celebration of creativity within STEM. Visitors can customise tote bags, paint their dream inventions, or meet creative professionals who blend science and art, from biomedical illustrators to engineers turned designers. This zone shows that science does not have one look, one sound, or one path.

The Community Stage: A welcoming platform for short panels and local DJ sets throughout the day. We will showcase Black women in STEM, local educators, and creatives through engaging discussions on innovation and identity. To close the event, local DJs including DJ AG, DJ Rekky, and DJ Mel, who is a biomedical scientist and creative, will host a social music session that celebrates culture, joy, and togetherness. It is a reminder that science and creativity live side by side in our community.

Who it is for:

The Big Picnic Fest is open to everyone including families, young people, schools, and community groups, but it is especially for Black women and girls, young people from low-income backgrounds, and local residents who rarely see themselves represented in science.

The difference it will make:

• Fosters wellbeing through community, connection, and joy.

• Promotes access to healthy choices through movement, food, and learning.

• Inspires young people through visible, relatable STEM role models.

• Strengthens local pride and collaboration between community groups.

Why it will succeed:

SiSTEM UK is an award-winning social enterprise co-founded by two sisters from Brixton who deeply understand the community they serve. We have already delivered two successful Big Picnic events and participated in large-scale outreach such as the Lambeth Country Show. Collaboration is central to how we work; we actively partner with schools, charities, and community organisations and plan to expand these partnerships further. The Big Picnic Fest is about bringing people and organisations together, recognising that there is power in numbers and in community. This next step will scale a proven concept, transforming a local tradition into a landmark annual festival that celebrates wellbeing, science, and sisterhood in one inclusive space.

The total amount of funding requested for this project is £50,000.