Carnival Arts

NORCA is a leader in carnival and outdoor arts.

We have developed and created carnival events, developed and run networks, supported artist development, and worked to increase participation and engagement.

We continually seek to push the boundaries of carnival, to develop new models for creative participation in public spaces and new areas of artistic practice within carnival.

We are focused on:

  • Developing the Norfolk & Suffolk Carnival Collective as a new platform for carnival arts practitioners and partners
  • Developing the Norwich Lord Mayor’s Procession, which we will take on delivering for the first time in 2023
  • Creating more opportunities to get involved
  • Training and skills development
  • Developing a new children’s carnival group building on our existing Youth Samba Band

Key achievements to date have been:

  • Celestial Carnival, a commission to create a night time carnival for Loddon in 2003, in partnership with Theatre of Adventure.
  • The Samba Extravaganza, where young people worked and performed with Rio musicians, Monobloco.
  • Touring Monobloco, around 14 dates in the UK and Ireland, with a range of additional community workshops and engagement.
  • Back to the Streets, an Arts Council England funded carnival project that put a 500-strong block at the front on the Lord Mayor’s Street Procession (2009).  The project brought international carnival artists to Norwich to work with local carnivalists and communities.

 

  • Partnership work with the UK Centre for Carnival Arts (UKCCA) on the Carnival Archive Project, creating an online archive for carnival in Norfolk (see link below).
  • Local partner with the UKCCA on Carnival Crossroads (their Cultural Olympics project), with events in Norwich and Luton.
  • The Carnival Company Project, which led to the creation of Bloco Foguete, a significant programme of workshops and the Voodoo Hoodoo carnival show (funded by Arts Council England).
  • Musical Direction and support for the Norwich Circus 250 Project (2018) and the World We Live In (2019)

LINK TO CARNIVAL ARCHIVE

Image Credits:
Header Image – Alex Hunter. Page Images – Alex Hunter