Notting Hill Carnival 2020 will be coming to a screen near you.
For many of us, the August bank holiday equals great music, a lot of dancing, and Caribbean food: in a word, Notting Hill Carnival. However, it was announced in May that for the first time in 54 years, the street party that we all know and love, would be cancelled.
While this was one of many events to be cancelled due to the pandemic, the announcement still came as a bit of a shock. But thanks to the event organisers, we’ll be able to enjoy carnival from the comfort of our own homes with their digital line-up, ‘Notting Hill Carnival: Access All Areas’.
This August bank holiday weekend, we’ll be getting a three-day online carnival hosted by BBC 1Xtra radio presenters Remel London and DJ Ace. The digital event will be broadcast globally, and there will be four different channels covering the range of music we would find at Notting Hill Carnival.
A number of performances have been pre-recorded, but you can also expect a live stream throughout the day capturing the sensational steel bands, sound systems, calypso and soca dancers, and much more. In addition, Access All Areas will feature discussions on carnival culture and interviews with event organisers, giving us an insight behind-the-scenes of the event.
In a recent statement, Notting Hill Carnival’s executive director, Matthew Philip, explained that “Carnival is such an important part of people’s lives and a key celebration of the multiculturalism of the UK and we have a responsibility to our community and pioneers to honour that.”
“We may not be able to celebrate together on the streets as usual, but we can all come together to celebrate one of the UK’s great cultural events online”. And rest assured, come August bank holiday, we will be doing exactly that!
The festival will kick off on Saturday 29th August and you can tune in from 6pm – find out more and register for the digital event here.