Bristol's St Pauls Carnival cancelled for 2017
Posted on: 09 May 2017Organisers of the world-famous festival, which had looked set to return to Bristol’s streets in July for the first time since 2014, have announced that it will no longer take place.
It has been revealed that St Pauls Carnival, which was due to return in July, will not be happening this year. The festival’s new organisers have announced plans for the festival to reappear in 2018 to coincide with its 50th anniversary.
This is the latest in a series of disappointing setbacks for the community festival, which has not taken over the streets of St Pauls since 2014. It was cancelled in both 2015 and 2016 after Arts Council England funding was withdrawn following accusations of mismanagement.
A new carnival committee (CIC) had been established as a result, with recommendations suggesting the party should return in “minimal form” this summer to lay foundations for 2018’s half-century landmark celebration. Even this, however, has been shelved, as the new organisers have opted to wait for next year instead.
A statement from the St Pauls Carnival CIC suggested that next year’s event “will represent the best of African Caribbean culture, as well as the immense diversity, creativity and vibrancy of its home city”.
David Harris, known as Apuuli, chair of the CIC, said: “I know how carnival influenced my sense of identity growing up and I want my children and future generations to be able to share in that experience too.”
“In 2018 we will deliver a carnival which returns to its roots and does justice to carnival’s rich history, in a way that is safe and family-friendly.”
Previous organisers of the festival will be hosting a scaled-down event at the Malcolm X Centre on 1st July, while Lakota are putting on a Jungle Carnival on the same day.
The previous organisers are extremely disappointed at the lack of collaboration offered by the new hosts.
For more information on the development of St Pauls Carnival, visit their new Facebook page.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
