You’ll have to wait another year for the full Hackney Carnival but this summer is packed with related events culminating in a Carnival Roadshow in Hackney Wick.
Earlier this year, Hackney Council announced the usual annual carnival would be every other year from now on. Cllr Chris Kennedy explained: “The growing audiences mean we need more infrastructure, event staff, security, and communications every year to deliver a safe and successful event.
“The budget for carnival has almost doubled each year due to its increasing scale and popularity. Rising costs and challenging inflationary pressures mean it simply isn’t possible to hold a live carnival event every 12 months.”
He pledged a reduced programme put together in partnership with local carnival groups with schools, youth and community groups to keep Hackney’s carnival traditions alive in between.
That programme has now been announced and includes a series of free workshops, exhibitions and pop-up events for families, young people and senior residents starting this month.
There’ll be steel pan workshops for beginners, a chance to make Carnival arts and crafts, design costumes and dance with a live DJ as well as stories from around the world and costume craft.
Also happening (on August 20 and 24) is a costume-making and flag-making workshop celebrating the ancient Asian lion – the group will perform at the main roadshow celebration event.
The Roadshow in Hackney Wick takes place on Sunday, September 17 from 12 pm to 7 pm and will offer a chance to dance, eat and experience all kinds of carnival festivities beside the canal.
Cllr Kennedy added: “Carnival draws thousands of people together to celebrate Hackney’s diversity and heritage and to showcase the borough’s amazing creative talents. This year we look forward to joining together with our schools, communities and carnival groups for an exciting line-up of events to keep our carnival traditions alive while we prepare for a full carnival in 2024.”
For full details of what’s on click here.
