After cancelling the Notting Hill carnival two years in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers have launched a fund to “help support the carnival community”.
Matthew Phillip, CEO of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said the money raised would help to support participants and bands that have faced financial hardship after the cancellation of an in-person carnival.
“Notting Hill carnival belongs on the streets, but the Covid pandemic presented too much uncertainty to plan for a safe event over the August bank holiday weekend,” Phillip said. “It also put bands in a difficult financial situation that had the potential to close them down, despite decades of history.”
A book, titled Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival, will be sold to raise funds, while proceeds from a series of live events will also go towards the cause. Carnival Culture in the Park will feature traditional and contemporary Caribbean music alongside opera over three days as part of the Opera Holland Park festival, in central London, from 19-21 August.
Last year, carnival organisers pre-recorded live sets from musicians, conducted interviews with sound system operators, and created guides for people to recreate Caribbean food in their own homes, as the street festival went digital for the first time in its 54-year history.
Notting Hill carnival is second only to Brazil’s Rio carnival in size and typically sees around two million people attend over the three days in West London.
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