Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

planning process of Carnival. A key area of contention that year had been the proposal by the
RBKC and WCC to implement a system of licensing to control the number of vehicles permitted
to enter the Carnival area and thereby travel the processional route. Following the 2001
Carnival, a number of bands came together and established an informal forum in order to
represent their interests. A further series of meetings in the autumn of 2001 and beginning of
2002 led to the creation of the Notting Hill Mas Band Association (NHMBA) in April 2002, a
fully constituted organisation with an elected committee. Since it’s creation, the Association has
played a vital role in the Carnival planning process. Only bands that are members of the
Association are allowed to participate at the Carnival and in 2003, with funding from the Arts
Council, NHMBA took sole responsibility for planning and organising its Grande Costume Gala at
Alexandra Palace – a role that had previously been played by NHCT.
Calypso – the Poetry of Carnival
1.59 “The calypsonian was the popular poet, a Caribbean descendent of the African griot, who was
the eyes and the ears of the community. His art, as an instrument of satire, social criticism and
awareness, is now renowned”
1.60 The Carnival Review Group received representations from the Association of British Calypsonians
(ABC) at one of its public hearings. Founded in 1991, the ABC is the representative body for
British-based calypso singers and composers in both the United Kingdom and Europe. The
Association’s central mission, namely the promotion of the culture of calypso and UK based
calypsonians to worldwide audiences, is achieved through its work with schools, community
groups and the music industry. As a not-for-profit organisation and based at the Yaa Asantewaa
Arts & Cultural Centre in West London, the ABC has been instrumental in producing a growing
programme of activities based on the traditions and ethos of calypso music, but with a
discernible British focus. Since its inception, ABC has been a key partner in the delivery of
calypso music programmes at the Yaa Asantewaa centre.
1.61 For almost ten years, ABC has been working towards one of its main goals, the recognition of
calypso as a contemporary Caribbean art form in the UK and eventually in Europe. The
achievement of this goal is now being supported with fixed term funding from London Arts and
this had enabled the Association to employ a part-time administrator – its first salaried post.
Surprisingly, at the public hearing, members of ABC were of the firm view that the biggest
problem and barrier to achieving their organisational goals was their relationship with NHCT. For
two years prior to March 2002 there had been no ABC representation on the board of NHCT and
the relationship was such that in 2000, the ABC approached London Arts and requested that the
latter act as a mediator between the two organisations.
1.62 The ABC felt that calypso was suffering from a lack of support, both within the Carnival
community and outside of it. The Association expressed grave concerns that many of their ideas
for the development and promotion of calypso, had been rejected by NHCT and therefore the
latter was seen as stifling the progress and work of the ABC. An example of this, it was argued,
was the Junior Calypso Monarch, a competition designed to encourage more children to take up
the art form. Lack of funding and support had meant that this competition had not taken place
for a number of years. Calypso, as the traditional and official music of the Notting Hill Carnival
was not being recognised and promoted as such.
1.63 The Review Group was impressed with ABC’s vision of where they wanted to be as an
organisation and as an art form. The Association was the only Carnival discipline that had
produced a five-year development plan in order to guide their work and they had embarked on
the process of obtaining charitable status as a first step towards the implementation of their
fundraising strategy. Members of the organisation were acutely aware of the fact that the next
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