Dr Nicola Frost describes the impact of training courses in aspects of carnival skills, related to a community festival in a deprived area of London.
Carnaval del Pueblo, reportedly the largest annual Latin American outdoor event in Europe, is held annually in August. Visitors can enjoy music from the four stages, watch the parade of colourful floats and dancers wend its way from Tower Bridge, and sample regional cuisine from the many food stalls. Carnaval is seen by many Latin Americans in London as a chance to gather together and showcase their various cultural traditions. It is also an opportunity for this usually invisible migrant group to make their mark on the capitals cultural scene.
In keeping with currently fashionable policies, Carnaval del Pueblo can be seen as a valuable way of contributing to economic regeneration, either of neighbourhoods or, as in this case, of disadvantaged populations. Celebrating Enterprise, an EU-funded project led by City University London (see p5) has piloted a number of support services and training courses in association with Carnaval, all of which are aimed at helping people make the most of the opportunities the Carnaval provided. These include courses in carnival skills and filmmaking.
In the first half of this year, further education institution Southwark College trialled a series of short courses in aspects of carnival-related skills. The idea was to improve the capacity of participants in the Carnaval, with a view to supporting individuals into related employment, or in establishing sustainable businesses. The courses covered areas of artistic development such as costume making, float design, face painting and Colombian folk dance. They also addressed practicalities such as setting up your own business, English as a second language, and running a festival market stall.
As well as the classroom-based learning aspects of these courses, some of them involved an opportunity to trial skills and learning in practice at Carnaval del Pueblo 2007. For some, this was through participating in the parade; others were able to test their trading ideas in a dedicated space at the event. Angela, a Flamenco dancer and community organiser, told us that the scheme has not only given her an opportunity to work creatively on a carnival float, but is also helping her plan how she can establish a sustainable community enterprise.
Festivals and carnivals can also be useful platforms for developing less specialist skills. Circus Media, a dedicated media-support centre for fledgling creative industries, developed a two-week introductory course that trained people to film festivals and events, from planning and technical skills, to post-production. Occurring halfway through the course, Carnaval del Pueblo has provided the perfect practical subject for students. Ana is doing an MA at the London College of Communication, and plans to work as a documentary film-maker for festivals or local community events. Although her MA is good, she feels it is too theoretical unlike the Circus Media course. She explains, I have had a great experience on this course, because it has taught me practical skills like camera work and editing. This will help me with my long-term career aspirations. As well as the practical skills, doing this course has been really great because of the group work. I have met some great people with similar interests who I will keep in touch with.
Dr Nicola Frost is a research fellow at Celebrating Enterprise, City University London. Training for Festival Enterprise: A Guide for Providers, will be published later this month at
w: http://www.celebrating-enterprise.org.uk