Organisers of the Notting Hill carnival have launched a fund to ensure that the annual August event can go ahead next year, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the west London street celebration to be cancelled for the second consecutive year.
The team behind the event said the Carnival Trust Fund would be used to “help support the carnival community”, including bands and artists that might, without assistance, have had to stop performing.
“Notting Hill carnival belongs on the streets, but the COVID pandemic presented too much uncertainty to plan for a safe event over the August bank holiday weekend,” said Matthew Phillip, CEO of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd. “It also put bands in a difficult financial situation that had the potential to close them down, despite decades of history.”