Entrepreneurial Legacies of Notting Hill Masquerade Bands

The Entrepreneurial

Legacy of the

Notting Hill

Masquerade Bands Nicole Ferdinand, PhD. Candidate, CMCI,

King’s College London

Discourse on the Entrepreneurial

Legacy of the Notting Hill Carnival

“We have so many Carnivals happening all over the

world but what do we really get out of them?”

(First Up, 2012)

[it is] “particularly galling to Trinidadians”that the popularity of carnivals [like

Notting Hill] “has not translated into anything of tangible value for

Trinidadians in Trinidad save for the handful of designers or bandleaders who

have been able to ply their trade overseas.” (Green and Scher, 2007:22)

Literature Review

Festival Tourism

• Mainly focused on attracting customers

• Focus on specific, single case studies

• “over-emphasis on consumer-behaviour theory and methods” (Getz, 2010: 20)

Cultural Studies

• Dominated by politically or sociologically focused research aims

• Investigate the cultural production process in an indirect manner (e.g. by examining texts or media reports)

Human Geography

• Focused on capturing ‘cultural landscapes’

• Highlight the linkages between festivals in Diaspora communities and their countries of origin

Int’l Business

• Dominated by the study manufactured goods , few studies on experience goods of any kind

• Actor networks, resource management

• Configuration

• Paths

Research Questions

How do festivals become

international?

Q1. How are festivals adapted and

spread in the process of

internationalization?

Q2. What international business

activities do festival organisations

participate in?

Q3. What are the benefits for the

country of origin of festival

internationalization?

Nested or embedded case study

Methodology

Notting Hill Carnival can be described as a single unit of analysis and its four

cultural arenas as nested or embedded units within it (Swanborn, 2010).

Initial Findings & Analysis

Case study of

Masquerade Bands

•9 interviews (October

2011- January 2012)

•9 current CMAF

members

•2 former NHMBA

executive members

•1 current CMAF

executive member

•Archival research which

includes:

•Media reports and

other reports, internal

memos and

organization materials


Festival Development

Actor Network Theory:

Framing, focal actor,

OPP, enrollment of

actors, outcomes

“Our artists are not Piccassoes …. They are not

reviewed in the Times or the Guardian…. They

are nevertheless artists in their own right….

Our art is valid and as important as any other.”

(Cohen, 1978 cited in Cohen, 1993: 46)

Problem

Framing

Focal

Actor

Obligatory

Passage

Point

Actors

Enrolled

Outcomes

Trinidadian /Black

Cultural

Celebration

(1970s)

Carnival

Development

Committee

Fit with TT

culture and

concerns of

Black Britain

Trinidadians,

Trinidadian festival

organizers

Masquerade makers

• Sound Systems.

Arts Council

• ‘Trinidadianizing

‘of the festival

• Funding from Arts

Council

• Festival grows to

100,000

“The two old committees virtually lost their

control over the bands and, in view of their

past bickering and of their failure to submit

publicly accurate accounts they became

discredited.” (Cohen, 1993: 47)

Problem

Framing

Focal

Actor

Obligatory

Passage

Point

Actors

Enrolled

Outcomes

Trinidadian /Black

Cultural

Celebration

(1970s)

Carnival

Development

Committee1

Fit with TT

culture and

concerns of

Black Britain

Trinidadians,


organizers,

masquerade makers

Sound Systems. Arts

Council

•‘Trinidadianizing

‘of the festival

•Funding from Arts

Council

•Festival grows to

100,000

UK Arts Festival

(early 1980s)

Arts council Meet

requirements of

arts council

UK masquerade

bands

• Dual carnival

organizations

forced to become

one to meet Arts

Council

requirements

“At least when we had Claire we had money […]

back in [those] days we use to win prizes and

we used to make at least 2000 pounds from

being on the road.”

- Interviewee 3

Problem

Framing

Focal

Actor

Obligatory

Passage

Point

Actors

Enrolled

Outcomes

Trinidadian /Black

Cultural

Celebration

(1970s)

Carnival

Development

Committee1

Fit with TT

culture and

concerns of

Black Britain

Trinidadians,


organizers,

masquerade makers

Sound Systems. Arts

Council


‘of the festival

•Funding from Arts

Council


100,000

UK Arts Festival

(early 1980s)

Arts council Meet

requirements of

arts council

UK masquerade

bands

• Carnival

organizations

forced to merge to

meet accountability

requirements

Carnival Means

Business

(mid-late 1980s)

Carnival Arts

Committee

Commercial

focus

Masquerade makers

of non-Caribbean

origins (especially

Brazilian)


1M.

• Arts education

becomes key to

masquerade

bands.

Sponsorship

Opportunity

(1990s)

CEC/ Notting

Hill

Carnival

Trust

Commercial

focus

Big business (Virgin,

BT and Coca-Cola)

•Financial surplus,


2M.

“… during the Golden Jubilee year […] people

[masquerade band leaders] starting seeing the

benefits of performing coming […] and what

did they do? They ganged up and go rid of

Claire Holder […] and they’ve never recovered,

so sponsors and funding and all of those

various things, they killed it.”

- Interviewee 5

Problem

Framing

Focal

Actor

Obligatory

Passage

Point

Actors

Enrolled

Outcomes

Trinidadian /Black

Cultural

Celebration

(1970s)

Carnival

Development

Committee1

Fit with TT

culture and

concerns of

Black Britain

Trinidadians,


organizers,

masquerade makers

Sound Systems. Arts

Council


‘of the festival

Funding from Arts

Council. Festival

grows to 100,000

UK Arts Festival

(early 1980s)

Arts council Meet

requirements of

arts council

UK masquerade

bands

• Carnival

organizations

forced to merge to

meet accountability

requirements

Carnival Means

Business

(mid-late 1980s)

Carnival Arts

Committee

Commercial

focus

Masquerade makers

of non-Caribbean

origins (especially

Brazilian)


1M.

• Arts education

becomes key to

masquerade

bands.

Sponsorship

Opportunity

(1990s)

CEC/ Notting

Hill

Carnival

Trust

Commercial

focus

Big business (Virgin,

BT and Coca-Cola)

•Financial surplus,


2M.

Turmoil,

Transition

(00s –present)

? Accountability Other festival

organizations,

smaller sponsors

•Loss of

commercial

support,

•Reduced Arts

Council funding


Festival International-

ization

Models of

Internationalization:

Stage, Resource,

Network




OPP, enrollment of

actors, outcomes

“I don’t think there would be any carnivals in

London without Notting Hill Carnival. The

focus of most bands in London is Notting Hill,

but they would do Thames Festival or

Hackney or this or that but basically it you

take away Notting Hill it won’t work anymore.”

- Interviewee 4

0

Coventry

Derby

*Bridgewater

Huddersfield

Luton

Bristol

*London

Manchester

Leeds

Liverpool

Chesam

0

*Coventry

Derby

*Bridgewater

Huddersfield

Luton

Bristol

*London

Manchester

Leeds

Liverpool

Chesam

UK Masquerade

Band Carnival

Circuit • Calo Festival

• One Hackney Festival

• The Mayor’s Thames Festival

• Bridgwater Guy Fawkes

Carnival

• Caribbean Carnival of Manchester

• Coventry Caribbean Festival

• Derby Caribbean Carnival

• Huddersfield Carnival

• Liverpool International Street Carnival

• Luton International Festival

• Schools of Chesham Carnival

• St. Paul’s Carnival Bristol

• The Leeds West Indian Carnival

From Notting Hill to the World

*Brazil

Trinidad

Cayman

Islands

*Taiwan

Seychelles

the Netherlands

*Germany

Port-of-Spain, Grand Cayman, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador,

Rotterdam, Berlin, Dortmund, Hamburg, Seychelles

&Tamsui

Internationalization: Modes & Directions

Festival International-

ization


Configuration of

Activities


Models of

Internationalization:

Stage, Resource,

Network



OPP, enrollment of

actors, outcomes

“I came here and I worked in London Notting Hill Carnival as a

designer of a group for four years. I spent sometimes 4-6months

working for summer.”

-Interviewee MB3

“All the costumes are made in Brazil. All

the drums are made in Brazil. Most of

the T-shirts are printed in Brazil.”

-Interviewee MB2

“...in India I run a skill development project where I help people in a

village who do embroidery ...”

- Interviewee MB3

“This year we are going to Germany for a stage performance. We’ve

also done workshops in Germany ...”

- Interviewee MB6

Inward Internationalization

Imports

• Masquerade design

• Semi-finished and finished

costumes

• Musicians’ and vocalists’ services

• Musical instruments

• Managerial expertise

Outward Internationalization

Exports

• Masquerade design

• Finished costumes

• Production expertise

• Managerial expertise

• Festival appearances

• Carnival consultancy

• Notting Hill Carnival is a festival which is served by a complex,

interlinked web of actor networks and resource interactions which

enables multiple modes and directions of international business activity

• Its integration of international production and consumption activities has

more in common with previous work on cultural clusters (Mommaas

2004) and interactive networks, or cultural production systems (Pratt

2008) rather than most festival tourism research which focuses on

consumer behaviour with a fixed festival environment

• The Notting Hill Carnival’s cultural entrepreneurs rather than

incompetent (Burr 2006) have been skillful actors in their negotiations

with state bodies and sponsors and have been innovative with their use

of resources

• Rather than being thieves of the Trinidadian culture (Green 2007) these

cultural entrepreneurs have provided Trinidadian and Brazilian artists

and designers with employment and export opportunities

Discussion

Conclusions

• Mapping of the Notting Hill Carnival as an experience

production system (Ferdinand and Williams, 2012) is

urgently needed to attract additional resources and new

actors to contribute to the carnival (e.g. multi-national firms,

television networks, other Caribbean Carnival organizations)

• Festivals like the Notting Hill Carnival present a unique

opportunity for cultural entrepreneurs to learn a complex

range of business skills, with minimal investment

• Festival organizations need to be wary of outsiders (e.g.

funding agencies and sponsors) framing their festivals in

ways which do not benefit the festival community

Thank You For Listening

E-mail: [email protected]

Nicole Ferdinand @evntmgt

http://facebook.com/Ms.NicoleFerdinand

http://www.facebook.com/Ms.NicoleFerdinand

Documents

Entrepreneurial Legacies of Notting Hill Masquerade Bands