Behind the scenes of Brits Week for War Child’s live shows

Each year, the charity works with the Brit Awards to curate a series of intimate performances from some of our biggest pop, indie and rock acts

The 2025 Brits Week for War Child performances are underway, with stars including Rachel Chinouriri, Joy Crookes, Cat Burns, Frank Turner and Kasabian performing intimate, sold-out shows ahead of the Brit Awards on Saturday 1 March.

Proceeds from the 11 shows are going towards War Child’s efforts to help provide protection, education and mental health support for children affected by war.

The organisation began putting on performances ahead of the annual ceremony around 2009, with their record-breaking double headline show of Coldplay and The Killers taking place at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.

War Child then officially teamed up with the Brit Awards in 2019, in partnership with AEG Presents, to deliver what is now known as Brits Week.

The Independent spoke with Clare Sanders-Wright, Live Music Lead at War Child UK, to learn more about the work that goes into the shows each year.

How has the Brit Awards partnership evolved over the years and how has it helped raise awareness for War Child?

The relationship between War Child and the BRIT Awards has flourished since we began working together, and evolved into our annual BRITs Week shows. The biggest names in music have lent their support over the years, and BRITs Week has become a staple in the music industry’s calendar, ultimately raising awareness of our work as well as millions of pounds, that have truly changed the lives of children caught in wars they didn’t start around the world.

Clare Sanders-Wright steers the Brits Week for War Child shows (Press)

Since the inception of BRITs Week for War Child, the awareness raised by the BRIT Awards as well as the amazing artists and their teams who have donated their time and talents has seen music fans help raise over £7m to support the children we work with. Our local teams are in communities and refugee camps around the world, creating safe spaces for children to play, learn and access mental health support, as well as delivering immediate emergency aid in crisis situations, and this money has been integral to facilitating our continued work.

Rachel Chinouriri performing at Omeara, February 2025 (Aaron Parsons Photography)

Why is War Child still relevant today — could you detail some of the work the organisation has been involved in in the past year?

War Child is more relevant today than ever before. It’s never been more deadly to be a child, with an estimated one in five children living in or fleeing from conflict globally. Together with our partners, War Child delivers vital work in 13 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, all with our ultimate mission in mind – ensuring a safe future for every child affected by war.

In the past year, a huge focus for the time has been on the children affected by the conflict in Gaza. While a ceasefire has been announced, this is only the first step, and children will need specialist support to process the trauma they’ve experienced. War Child and our partners have stepped in to provide life-saving assistance, having reached more than 180,000 individuals, including upwards of 118,000 children – over 1 in 10 children in Gaza. This includes mental health and psychosocial support activities, and emergency provisions such as food, clean water, hygiene kits, warm clothing, and blankets.

Children play next to their tent in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on 19 November 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

War Child is also working to help address the needs of the estimated 17,000 unaccompanied and separated children in Gaza, many of whom have had their immediate family members killed. So far, over 580 of these children have been directly supported by War Child, with efforts ongoing to connect them with essential services and caregivers.

Our work has continued to span the globe, however. For example, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 120,000 children have been displaced in 2025 alone, on top of the hundreds of thousands already displaced. Our teams have reached more than 227,000 people in the region so far with our emergency response, and supported more than 1,500 children with catch up classes through 2024.

Cat Burns performs at Moth Club (Aaron Parsons Photography)

What is the organisation's hopes for this year's Brits Week shows?

Awareness of our work. We’ve seen time and again that the artists we invite to play BRITs Week have fan bases that really care about the issues we work on. The goal is to give music lovers information about these crises around the world, what exactly it is that we do to support children caught in the middle of them, and ultimately, encourage them to engage and support us at and through these shows. I think artists love to see how engaged their fans are, and how much they care just as much as we do. So, while we obviously want to raise as much desperately needed funds as possible to support our work, we hope more people become aware of who we are, what we do, and are empowered to get involved however they can.

We’re also really happy this year to be taking our shows outside of London and hope to see this expand year on year.

You can find more information on Brits Week for War Child 25 and the ongoing shows here. The 2025 Brit Awards take place on Saturday 1 March at the O2 Arena in London.