National Discourse on Carnival Arts Report by Ansel Wong, October 2009 1 2 © Carnival Village, Tabernacle 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recorded or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Contact details for further information: Shabaka Thompson CEO Carnival Village, Tabernacle Powis Square London W11 2AY Tel: +44 (0) 20 7286 1656
[email protected] www.Carnivalvillage.org.uk 3 This report is dedicated to the memory of David Roussel-Milner (Kwesi Bachra) 18 February 1938 – 28 October 2009 4 Executive Summary Introduction The Carnival Village, The ELIMU Paddington Arts Carnival Band, the Victoria and Albert Museum and HISTORYtalk hosted the National Discourse on Carnival from Friday 2 October to Sunday 4 October 2009 with a number of post-conference events lasting for the duration of the month of October. The programme was delivered through two strands – ROOTS (a historical review and critical analysis of Carnival in London from 1969) and ROUTES (mapping the journey to artistic and performance excellence for Carnival and its related industries) - to achieve the following objectives: Inform Carnival Village‟s development plans Formulate an approach to and build a consensus on Carnival Arts Identify and develop a strategic forum of stakeholders, performers and artists Recognise and celebrate artistic excellence in Carnival Arts Build on the legacies of Claudia Jones and other Carnival Pioneers The Programme For the duration of the event, there were two keynote presentations; the first was the inaugural Claudia Jones Carnival Memorial Lecture delivered by Dr Pat Bishop and the second was delivered by Pax Nindi on the future of Carnival.