Reflecting on Back A Yard 2024
LaToyah McAllister-Jones, Executive Director of St Pauls Carnival, reflects on this year’s Back A Yard celebrations.
This year, the Back A Yard programme aimed to celebrate community talent and achievements whilst also engaging people around the challenges faced by the cultural sectors in 2024.
The launch event, Sounds of Windrush: Human Library, focused on our musical heritage and how that has changed the UK music scene. From calypso to reggae, to dancehall, drum and base and dub step, you find the influence of African Caribbean people.
We celebrated our Elders with the traditional Carnival morning Elders’ Brunch, which was an amazing way to come together and celebrate their achievements and the legacy they have given us.
Our programme culminated in the It Takes a City Day Party, which had something for the whole community; storytelling and stilt walking, costume making, food and music. It's been quite the summer!
We also had the opportunity to talk about the future of community events on our panel discussion which included events like Bristol Pride, community members, cultural practitioners and St Pauls Carnival. The recording of the panel discussion will be released soon.
Our main message at Back A Yard was that it takes a city to support an iconic cultural event like St Pauls Carnival. Our fundraising campaign is about having a conversation with the city – citizens, communities, businesses and institutions – about the positive impact of events like Carnival which was estimated to have brought £9.2m into the city's economy in 2023.
The costs of events have increased to the extent that this year alone, 53 music festivals have cancelled or folded under the pressure of finances, including Leicester Carnival.
We’d like to thank Montpelier High School, Peg Squires, Bristol Beacon and Watershed who collaborated with us on additional events as part of the Back A Yard programme to raise money for Carnival 2025.
If we want Carnival to be back next year, it has to be a city-wide effort.
it takes a city to make carnival happen.
support Carnival by donating here, Or enter our Crowdfunder prize draw.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has already supported!
Check out the Back A Yard 2024 events below!
It Takes A City Day Party
6th July at The Boxing Gym
Headlined by the legendary Johnny Clarke, this celebration day recreated the Carnival experience with open air music, crafts, kids’ activities, stalls, and delicious food for the whole community. The event also helped raise funds to bring Carnival Day back to the streets in 2025 – it takes a city to make it happen!
Elders’ Brunch
6th July at Circomedia
This is hugely important part of Carnival every year, and is an annual opportunity for us to thank our Elders for their contributions to the community over food and entertainment. This years’s brunch was hosted by Bandyt and featured a performance from the One Love Choir.
Photos by Bhagesh Sachania Photography
Sounds of Windrush: Human Library
22nd June at Circomedia
Held on Windrush Day, this evening of storytelling explored the impact of the Windrush Generation and its children on the UK music scene – from the Carnival vibes of Soca and Calypso to the African beats that have influenced Drum & Bass. Inspired by the format of Human Libraries and our previously popular Library events, legendary local DJs Pinch, DJ Style, Dazee, Lady V and Big D (Jah Lokko) shared their knowledge and experience of being part of groundbreaking music scenes in Bristol.
Photos by Cecil Davis
