November 2011
Get Collecting!
Help us preserve and share the wonderful world of carnival with the first Carnival Archive in the UK.
Carnivals and street processions bring everyone together to celebrate and enjoy all that is creative and fun in our communities. Beyond the spectacular performances, magical costumes and music, there’s a deep-rooted history and culture that has transformed our communities over the years. The Carnival Archive project will offer everyone a chance to share photos, drawings, film, music, and stories about carnival in Norfolk.
Thanks to an award of £642,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the UK Centre for Carnival Arts (UKCCA), working with partners at Norwich & Norfolk Community Arts (NORCA), Southend Carnival Association, Northamptonshire Black History Association and Northampton Carnival Arts Consortium are launching a major regional Carnival Archive project.
From November 2011, we will be running events and roadshows to raise awareness of this project, where you can share your memorabilia and memories, or come and sign up as a volunteer.
This regional ‘on-line’ archive will capture the rich heritage of all things carnival: collecting and sharing the artistic energy, memories and wonderful creations that have brought life to carnivals across the region.
This HLF supported project, led by UKCCA, has an exciting education programme that will bring archive and carnival-related activities to local schools colleges and universities, linking the history of carnival to the present and fostering new generations of carnivalists. We will be working with over 80 schools and reaching 2400 pupils in the region.
Whether a carnival organiser, artist, performer, group or spectator, you can contribute to the archive with photos, drawings, film, music, and stories, enabling us to capture a true picture of how carnival has been part of community life.
Carnival means different things to different communities, whether influenced by traditional seaside carnival, English, South Asian, Caribbean or South American roots. For all of us, this archive project can bring together and celebrate generations of passion, skills and arts that would otherwise be lost for good.