What is the future of Notting Hill Carnival?

nme.com:

NME about the future of the seminal celebration of Black culture.Founded nearly 60 years ago, the event is now a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture birthed as a response to the infamous 1958 Notting Hill Riots and the racist killing of Kelso Cochrane in 1959.

Today, the carnival not only showcases West Indian traditions but also honours the African and Brazilian influences that have helped shaped the event and London at large.This year will be the 57th edition, marking 59 years since the Carnival’s first inception and with close to two million people expected to attend this year.

NME asked what the future of Carnival holds so it can go on for another 60 years.“We’re coming up to 60 years and the end is not in sight,” the Carival’s CEO Matthew Philips told NME.He suggested that the obvious way Carnival will continue to thrive is through collaboration.“We don’t market Carnival because it doesn’t need it, but there is work to be done in terms of how people can get involved,” he added. “I do appreciate a lot of people don’t realise that you can actually participate.”Philips said that many masquerade bands – huge trucks, also known as mas bands, surrounded by colourful, feathered dancers and musicians in the parade every year – are always on the lookout for help. “All of the bands have welcomed people helping to make and construct the costumes,” he stated.“There are steel bands up and down the country that offer free classes for the most part to learn how to play the steel band.