Enterprising Britain 2008 – East winner
UK Centre for Carnival Arts
The UK Centre for Carnival Arts (UKCCA), based in Luton, is the winner of Enterprising Britain 2008 for the East of England.
Ten years ago virtually no one could have imagined that one of the most underfunded and undervalued art forms could spark a cultural regeneration renaissance in one of the UK’s most disparate, diverse and deprived areas. But UKCCA, the leading agency for the carnival and creative arts in the UK, has achieved incredible results through its firm believe that carnival arts have the power to transform lives, raise attainment and reposition towns and cities.
Luton Carnival Arts Development Trust (LCADT) was established in 1998 to extend the activities of the Luton International Carnival. This vision has since grown to include the development of a landmark £7.5 million centre, which serves the public and places the UK on a world stage for creative enterprise.
Luton has been labelled a deprivation hotspot, appearing within the top 10 most deprived districts in the country. Higher Education and degree level success is lower than the national average and, with a large sector of the town’s unemployed aged between 20 - 29, Luton faces particular challenges in terms of providing educational, training and employment opportunities. Studies have highlighted skills shortcomings, low inward investment, lack of dynamism in the local economy and lack of identity as factors influencing Luton’s lack of enterprise culture.
UKCCA works from a strategic to grass roots level complementing and supporting programmes for neighbourhood renewal and regeneration, tourism development, arts in education, business development and community cohesion to address these shortcomings.
Business development and inward investment are encouraged through the Centre’s small business advisory scheme, incubation programme and street market facility.
Carnival arts are used to positively engage young people and tackle disaffection through creative enterprise and international development work, which ultimately diverts young people away from crime and other disruptive behaviour. The attainment levels of young people have been raised using the accessibility of carnival arts to attract them to learning, encourage participation in school life, arts and cultural activity locally.
Staying true to the saying “carnival speaks the language of the street”, UKCCA delivers creative opportunities for excluded communities and to people who traditionally are not participants in arts or creative enterprise, including lone parents, disabled people, young people and unemployed people. By engaging and empowering them, it has enabled black and ethnic minority communities to promote their lifestyle and culture building pride and confidence and connecting them to local and town-wide events where this can be showcased.
UKCCA also plays an important educational role, pioneering a new responsive and innovative approach to skills training. It identifies areas where excluded young people are at risk of falling through the net, and other disadvantaged groups who have been marginalised and tend not to engage in other more formal education, can be engaged with a range of exciting and innovative informal educational opportunities to suit them. Work experience, practical workshops to build confidence and self esteem and pathways to higher education and employment are all on offer.
To date over 200 local residents have been trained and certified to industry standard in Event Stewarding through UKCCA, providing a catalyst to pursue further training and employment in Event Management, Stewarding and Security Industries.
UKCCA has helped increase Luton’s profile as a creative and cultural capital and it has inspired a Luton-wide regeneration programme, which will include upgrades to the town's bus and train stations as well as general improvements to the town's urban environment.
Paul Anderson, the Centre’s director, has been committed to tacking social ills since his best friend was murdered when he was a young man living in a deprived London Borough. Following youth work roles in Camden, Paul became involved in regeneration work in East London and at the same time developed a passion for community arts management, directing a West African drumming and dance ensemble. This position was the tipping point for Paul whose focus on developing cohesive and inspiring community projects became firmly rooted in using the arts as a catalyst for positive community change.
In February 2003 Paul became the Executive Director for the UK Centre for Carnival Arts. Through innovation and successful application of carnival arts to national agendas in education, archiving, tourism, community cohesion and regeneration, Paul has effectively raised, on average, over £300,000 per annum to support UKCCA and its project ideas.
He has single-handedly motivated senior partners and sceptical stakeholders to get involved, engaged and inspired by what was originally an unthinkable vision – a £7.5m national carnival capital regeneration project that would impact locally, nationally and internationally, providing a vital resource to a hugely undervalued sector.
Future plans for UKCCA include establishing a trading arm to underpin income generation activities, maximizing the use of the building as a community and commercial asset, supporting and growing carnival related businesses and establishing an educational directorate. The new building by itself will encourage an extra £420,000 of external revenue investment per annum into Luton and the surrounding areas. The community engagement work is being extended to the rest of the region.