Lovers of the Bath Carnival are celebrating the news that Arts Council England have confirmed a grant offer of £25,000 towards the costs of this year’s project.
Photo courtesy of Lucy Baker Photography
Arts Council England South West made the announcement on Twitter: “Congratulations to Bath Carnival for £25k National Lottery money to build on their community project, a carnival procession and festival!”
The investment, which is an increase of £10,000 on last year’s grant, is particularly important as the project’s organisers are facing escalating costs relating to the carnival event and will no longer be receiving funding from B&NES Council.
Bath MP, Wera Hobhouse, said: “The team behind Bath Carnival deserve a massive congratulations for securing this funding. I attended the Bath Carnival last year, and it was a real highlight of the summer; colourful, creative and happy!
“It’s not just one day either; they have creative workshops running for two and a half months prior to the Carnival that are open to everyone. If you are a business owner reading this, or an individual who wants to be part of a fantastic community arts project, then please do consider supporting them!”
A Local Giving page has been set up to help raise more funds with individuals and businesses encouraged to signup as a Local Giving fundraiser and set their own individual target.
The page currently has two accounts raising funds for the carnival (Zest Bootcamp and Foodbev), and has already raised £152.
Businesses interested in supporting Bath Carnival can learn more about the sponsorship packages on offer when the new website goes live next week.
In the meantime requests for further information should be sent to [email protected].
The Bath Carnival 2018 project properly kicks off in May with a team of artists delivering a new programme of carnival arts workshops to schools, charities and community groups, with participants experiencing dance, music and costume making.
With seventeen groups including ten schools already signed up to the programme, the project organisers have been recruiting additional artists to meet the high demand.
Hannah Southfield and Amy Palmer Fry from the Creative Collective Bath will join lead artists Abi Kennedy and Adrian Spinola to help lead the costume making workshops.
Hannah Southfield said: “Rarely as an artist do you get the chance to be creative on such a huge scale as the Bath Carnival project, so we are over the moon to have been given this opportunity.
“We are heading into the studio for master classes with Abi and Adrian next month, and couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”
It has been a strong start to the year for Bath Carnival who were also awarded Volunteer Team of the Year at the Chair’s Community Awards last month and have been nominated for Best Event at the Bath Life Awards.
Bath Carnival takes place on Saturday 21st July, with community workshops taking place from the beginning of May.
To make a donation to Bath Carnival visit www.localgiving.org/charity/bathcarnival.
