DIGI-DANCING CARNIVAL GOES GLOBAL … BUT WITH NO FLOATS ON STREETS
THE Notting Hill Carnival today announced it is “going global” for the first time in its 54-year history with an entirely digital programme on the August bank holiday weekend.
Details of this year’s celebration were revealed after it was announced in May that the street festival, which usually attracts more than a million people, would not go ahead due to the pandemic.
Matthew Phillip, of organiser Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said the event, which will be broadcast globally over four online channels, will offer viewers a “peak behind the curtain” of Europe’s biggest street party. It will include performances, interviews and cookery shows.
He told the Standard: “It was not right to not do anything. We wanted to celebrate the people behind the carnival. With it being digital, now it is an around-the-world experience.
“Lockdown has meant that we have all fast-forwarded in terms of technology. It is something we should have been embracing before. It was always going to adapt and we are going to be embracing it. It is an opportunity to open people up to the carnival and give people a peek behind the curtain.”
It is expected that the Digital Notting Hill Carnival for 2020 will replace the street festival for one year only, although Mr Phillip said some element of this year’s digital offering will remain for the future.
Viewers tuning in from 6pm on Saturday, August 29 will be able to experience the performances from steel bands, sound systems, plus calypso and soca dancers. There will be interviews with the people behind the event, plus food and drink shows.
The content for the digital carnival has been filmed over the past month. The event is being supported by Kensington and Chelsea council, Westminster council and the Greater London Authority.
The cancellation of the festival marks the first time it is not being staged since it was launched in 1966.