Global Carnival! Nottingham Global Roots Festival 2021

22 Nov

Our annual Nottingham Global Roots Festival project was again a great success in 2021 after being in its first year in 2020. The festival was planned and delivered alongside Cultural Vibrations, an organisation in Nottingham.

Thanks to a National Lottery Project Grant award from Arts Council England, our festival team was able to once again curate an exciting programme of artists, groups and workshop leaders representing music, dance and the arts from all over the world.

This year’s theme was ‘Global Carnival’, a real showcase of the many creative and cultural communities we have in Nottingham and also across the region, nationally, and internationally.

Taking a hybrid approach this year, our festival team programmed a series of three online festivals, as well as three live in-person festival events. Our online events featured both local and international artists, such as KaBen, Lindigo from Reunion Island, and Ivorian percussionist Sidiki Dembele’s performing group, Denifari. All performances were fantastic! We also welcomed on board Gambian griot and kora harpist, Sefo kanuteh, who launched his new albums at our first online festival.

Our live festival events took place at Nottingham Playhouse and at an arts venue in the heart of Nottingham’s inner city multi-cultural communities. We welcomed artists such as Tippa Irie, Tanante and the fabulous The Dhol Foundation, who headlined the main festival event.

We’d like to thank everyone that supported us in making this year’s festival a great success. It was a true celebration of our communities here in Nottingham.