Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

4.7 Held annually on the late May bank holiday, the Luton International Carnival is the secondlargest
street carnival in the UK 87 . It attracts carnivalists from all over the world and draws
audiences of over 150,000 to Luton’s streets. The success of the Carnival sits at the heart of
Luton’s strategies for regeneration, partly as a way of repositioning the town and celebrating
its diverse cultural mix, and partly through the development of a major new centre for Carnival
Arts. With £5 million of arts capital committed by the Arts Council of England, the Council
and its partners intend, by 2007, to have established the UK’s major centre for the study and
practice of Carnival in Luton. The new centre will provide excellent facilities for Carnival
artists and its programme of community and outreach work will ensure that communities,
especially young people, in Luton, have access to new skills and high quality events.
4.8 Luton Carnival Trust intends to invite carnivalists of international renown to take up
residencies in Luton as visiting artists, bringing with them a variety of carnival styles from the
Caribbean, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Their expertise will contribute to a
flowering of artistic content, and local communities and individuals in Luton will have
opportunities to learn carnival skills and take part in a range of related activities. The
international exchange will work both ways, with opportunities for Luton Carnival artists to
work with other international carnivals.
A Permanent Home for Carnival Arts in London
4.9 Notting Hill is regarded by many as the ‘spiritual’ home of the Caribbean-influenced carnival
in the UK. Many have argued that there appears to be little or no permanent recognition of
the role played by the Carnival and the positive effect that it has had on regenerating the
North Kensington area. Rather, every effort is made to ‘clear away’ the presence of the
Carnival until such time as the August bank holiday weekend comes around again.
4.10 The need for a permanent home that would act as a vehicle to support the development and
showcasing of the carnival arts, create employment, business and marketing opportunities has
been discussed within the Carnival community for a number of years, but if the Carnival is to
realise its full potential, much more must be done to ensure that the creation of a permanent
‘Centre for Carnival Arts and Enterprise’ within Notting Hill is made a reality. The LDA has
already earmarked £4.2 million for such an initiative.
Carnival Arts and Education
Recommendations
18 - There is no doubt that the social and educational value of the Notting Hill Carnival, through its
promotion of the carnival art form has been significant. The work of carnival arts-related
organisations and groups is demonstrative of the positive contributions that they have been making
in the areas of educational enrichment and achievement. This work continues to be overlooked and
we therefore believe that a more detailed study should be conducted into the educational potential
and benefits of the Carnival Arts, together with the possible linkages that could be made to existing
curricular and lifelong learning programmes. Such a study could be funded by the Department of
Education and Skills and would include: (a) a mapping of past and present carnival arts and education
initiatives; (b) researching areas of good practice in the development of carnival and carnival arts in
87
‘Culture: A Catalyst for Change – A Strategy for Cultural Development for the East of England’, The Cultural Consortium for the East
of England, p9
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