Talking Celebration, Activism, and Community at GIRL NOISE’s 2026 Music Festival

This past Sunday evening, I followed the sounds of what was surely a track from Charli xcx’s groundbreaking brat album emanating outside of Bushwick’s, The Sultan Room. ABIIZA’s pop-filled candied DJ set perfectly spoke to the theme of Girl Noise, an all femme indie music festival whose tagline reads, “For Girls By Girls.” The festival, created and curated by Simone Lipkin, a musician herself, was a sold out event, the second of its kind following a successful debut in June 2025. 

The night was abound with feminine energy, great upper body tattoos, a Kim Gordon cover, and more. Despite being a music festival, it was obvious the event’s mission was larger than that. This was strategically achieved by Girl Noises’ intentional collaboration with female run organizations like HeadCount, who facilitated voter registration on-site, Toneshift Collective, who works to amplify gender diversity in the music industry and (Simone’s favorite), Tired Thrift. The proceeds also directly benefited the Lower East Side Girls Club, working to “connect young women and gender-expansive throughout New York City to healthy and successful futures through free, innovative year-round programming and mentoring.” 

The show featured performances from Speedrun, Simone, Leyla Ebrahimi, For Opal, Father Koi, Caitlin Starr, and Buffchick—the latter who we included in our Artists to Watch post in 2024.

Ahead of the festival, I interviewed Simone to get the details on what inspired the event, its mission, plans for the future, and more! 

ILANA: What inspired the all female Girl Noise festival?

SIMONE: In the past few years, I’ve kind of done a deep dive into ’90s culture and music. I’ve done all this research on initiatives that were happening back then that were uniting music and political activism. I got so inspired by people like Sarah McLachlan, who founded the all-women music festival Lilith Fair, and the band L7, who founded the abortion access benefit series Rock For Choice. I was thinking about how things like that don’t really exist nowadays: community-driven, recurring concerts that highlight important causes. I kind of just thought, if I want this to happen, maybe I should do it myself.

ILANA: How did you approach curating the lineup?

SIMONE: Living in New York, it’s really not hard to put together a great lineup. There are countless artists and bands here that are just phenomenal. I find people in all sorts of different ways: Instagram, Spotify, word of mouth. I honestly just try to book people that I’m a fan of – which has luckily worked out! I really love artists that prioritize their craft and their individuality. I’m not someone who cares about numbers or anything like that. I just want to hear good music.

ILANA: Do you remember where/when you were inspired to create this festival?

SIMONE: I have a notes app entry from August of 2024 that planted the seeds for what eventually became GIRL NOISE. I was probably just in my apartment, thinking about how fun it would be to play a show with a bunch of other girls. Over time, other ideas started to come together, like supporting different charities for each event and creating a community outside of just the shows. I really just wanted to create something that I wanted to see – something that felt like it was missing. 

ILANA: Have you faced any pushback with the mission of the festival?

SIMONE: Not in any meaningful way. You know you’ve made it when you have haters, though. I think there might be dudes that don’t really like the “all girls” thing – like, why can’t it be for everyone? But I think if you really understand the mission, you’ll see that it is for everyone. I think it’s a lot cooler for guys to come to these shows than for me to say “they aren’t allowed to” or something. That’s not really helpful for anyone. When we all come together in solidarity and support one another, there’s so much power in that.

ILANA: How do you see the festival evolving over the next 5–10 years?

SIMONE: I dream pretty big, so I definitely have a ton of ideas. I really want to put on shows all over the country, not just New York. It would be incredible to support charities and emerging female artists in different cities. It’s really important to me that we never lose the political component to all of this – I’d love to tour the festival during election years and be able to platform different candidates and causes. I hope we continue to do bigger shows with bigger artists so we can make the impact bigger, too.

ILANA: Was there any intention by choosing the Sultan Room for this event?

SIMONE: We held our inaugural event at The Sultan Room last June, so we were super excited to come back for our second event. We’ve been able to grow our community in the last 9 months, and it’s really cool to watch that happen in real time. We sold out this show, which is a super exciting development, and really encouraging when we think about playing a bigger venue next time.

ILANA: How important is community when it comes to the festival experience?

SIMONE: At the heart of all of this is community. That’s really the driving force for me. I feel like there’s such a lack of that nowadays, especially with younger generations who are experiencing so much isolation. Being in a room with a bunch of people who are feeling all the same things that you are – we take that for granted. You can see an abundance of “relatable” videos and posts online, but no amount of that compares to the experience of relating to people in real life.

ILANA: What kind of role do you envision this festival playing within the music industry at large?

SIMONE: I hope that people look at the response to GIRL NOISE and feel empowered to be part of it, or to start their own initiatives. I think there’s a real craving right now for artists and creatives to be more outspoken, and yet a lot of us seem to be doing the opposite. I want this to be a stepping stone in the right direction.

ILANA: What should an audience expect from Girl Noise and what do you hope they walk away from the festival feeling?

SIMONE: The audience should expect a night of celebration and community. I want people to walk away from it feeling a little more hopeful – it certainly has brought me a lot of joy and encouragement, which feels rare these days. Maybe you’ll make a friend, discover a new artist, or have a few drinks and find the meaning of life. I just want people to have fun.

ILANA: Outside of the music, what else are you most excited for at the festival?

SIMONE: There’s so much I’m excited about! HeadCount will be at the event doing voter registration, which is such an honor. One of my favorite local vintage stores, Tired Thrift, will be selling clothes and I can’t wait for that. We have some other incredible women-run organizations that will be there sharing information about their work. And all ticket proceeds from the night will go directly to the Lower East Side Girls Club, the non-profit we’ve partnered with for this show. It’s gonna be a really special night.

…And that it was. As I waited for my Uber home, I reflected on the night’s events. In the beginning of her set, Kara, aka Father Koi, who played an electrifying set took a break to address the industry’s lack of female producers (roughly 5.9% of producers identify as women and that’s if you’re solely looking at those who worked on songs that broke the Billboard Hot 100). As history has shown us, the only way to affect change in an archaic industry is to infiltrate the system and do it yourself. It’s safe to say, it’s evident Simone is on the exact right path.