Subtitle: Beta is done. Funding phase begins.
Excerpt: We’re not a radio station or a TV channel. They’re instruments inside a bigger universe. Evolving from Global Roots, TheGRIN.io explores new signals across Art, Science, and Society. With beta complete, we enter our funding phase toward a Feb–Mar 2026 launch. Join us in the lab.
We’ve been testing in the dark, listening for faint signals. Today we can say it clearly: Global Roots has evolved into The GRIN — The Global Roots International Network. Radio and TV aren’t destinations for us; they’re instruments inside a wider universe where music meets movement, where culture meets research, where community meets possibility.
Where we’ve been
Global Roots began as a warehouse party in Dalston (Pattern Cutting Factory, 2009), found an early home on NTS, then grew into a roaming platform—club nights at Plastic People, pop-ups, screenings, stages at Dimensions, Bahidorá, Worldwide Festival—and collaborations with partners like the British Council across Addis Ababa, Mexico City, Havana, Seoul, Cape Town, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Nairobi.
Since 2019 we’ve programmed Tate Modern Lates; between 2022–2025 we broadcast Global Roots Radio on Rinse FM, amplifying diasporic and underground signals to a global audience.
What changes now
- 🎙️ THE GRIN Radio — weekly transmissions, live sessions, takeovers; an archive + amplifier for under-represented scenes.
- 📺 THE GRIN TV — performance films, interviews, micro-docs, and experimental formats that make underground culture visible, not just audible.
- 🧪 The G.R.I.N Lab — research and prototyping across Art, Science, and Society; tooling, rights frameworks, and collaborative production methods.
“We’re not international — we’re Galaxian. We respect the tools of the past, but we’re exploring new orbits for a fairer future.”
The founder’s signal
The GRIN is led by Thristian (raised in East London), co-founder of Boiler Room (2010, alongside Blaise Belleville) and Worldwide FM (with Gilles Peterson), with early work around NTS and Channel 4’s Four to the Floor. The vision remains the same: connect the underground, build bridges, and give future voices room to breathe.
From beta → funding → launch
- Now: funding phase
- Next: open calls, Radio/TV pilots, lab notes, partner announcements
- Launch window: Q2 2026
How to plug in
- Artists/collectives: send works in progress, field recordings, research notes, live ideas.
- Institutions/funders: co-design residencies, broadcast labs, and routes to public access.
- Community: subscribe, share, and help us chase down the next frequency.
This is an invitation. TheGRIN.io is the place where signals converge and new paths open. We’ll keep broadcasting — and we’ll keep building — in public.