The children attending this year’s Summer Carnival Arts programme spent up to three weeks with us, creating their own costumes, writing their own carnival song and learning a specially choreographed carnival dance. They also immersed themselves in this year’s theme ‘Circus’, learning about its history and the many different performers you can find in a circus.
We would like to thank our wonderful costume artist Vikkie Tarbuck, whose vision and ideas helped the children bring their costumes to life, puppet maker Seb Mayer, who created an impressive hungry lion puppet, and the Royal College of Music who helped us write our carnival song. We also had so many amazing and creative volunteers who supported the project (usually covered in glitter and sequins) and we cannot thank them enough for all their help and enthusiasm.
Particular thanks goes to our funders whose generous support made this year’s Carnival Arts programme possible. Thank you!
For the programme’s grand finale, our carnival band braved the heat on Sunday, 25th August, bringing the circus to Notting Hill Carnival 2019. The children donned their costumes and turned into clowns, ring masters and trapeze artists and performed their dance in front of the judging panel. A special shout out goes to Omar and Kate, our brilliant police liaison officers, Lee and Steve, our ever patient bus drivers, as well as the Xtreme carnival band who showed amazing community spirit and supported us when the music failed. These are the things that make our community and Notting Hill Carnival so special. Until next year!
