With Carnival season approaching in the UK, the Isle of Wight is gearing up for the return of National Children’s Carnival Week after a two-year absence. Themed ‘Colours of the Rainbow’, it is organised by the New Carnival Company and will take place between 12 and 18 July 2021.
A UK-wide launch event took place on Thursday 22 April at Brading Roman Villa. Social distance protocols meant that attendance was limited to invited guests only. The lucky few were treated to a colourful and energetic programme of carnival dance, costumes and songs.
Students from the Performing Arts Department of Isle of Wight College and the island’s Theatre in Education (TEd) team joined forces to perform a newly commissioned carnival anthem, This is our Carnival. The song was produced in collaboration with the IW Music Hub.
The new Isle of Wight High Sheriff James Attrill expressed his full support at the launch. He said: “I am so impressed with your project – just what we need to move out of the gloom and back to normal life.”
The host, Frankie Goldspink ‑ Creative Director of the New Carnival Company ‑ expounded on the importance of the new scheme to its beneficiaries. She said: “After such a phenomenally difficult and challenging year it is more important than ever for children and young people to join together, get creative and express themselves. Carnival is the perfect tool for nurturing the green shoots of recovery and schools are the perfect conduit to enable this to take place.”
The organisers will be offering all schools and community family groups free online workshops. For a small charge there will be support packages for artists visiting schools.
All participants are expected to facilitate their own pop-up carnival events and celebrations in the safety of their own venues and with their own invited audiences. At the moment 15 island schools and three community groups have signed up for the programme and plenty more are welcome to join.
- For additional information on the carnival, visit its official website.
