Hackney Carnival

Hackney Carnival 2024

Hackney Carnival returns on Sunday 22 September 2024 from 12pm to 7pm with a family-focused parade. The parade celebrates the borough’s diverse communities and creative talents.

We’re working with the relevant authorities to deliver a safe, enjoyable and free event for the local community – including:

• Metropolitan Police
• London Ambulance Service
• London Fire Brigade
• Transport for London

To create a safe parade route for the carnival and protect the area, we will close some roads and restrict parking in and around Hackney Central. We have sent residents and businesses in the affected area a letter on how the event may impact them.

Visit Love Hackney to find out more about Hackney Carnival 2024

Hackney Carnival Roadshow 2023

The Hackney Carnival Roadshow 2023 was a programme of carnival events. Hackney’s carnival groups, along with schools and community groups, organised the roadshow from July to September 2023. The purpose of the roadshow was to keep Hackney’s carnival traditions alive in preparation for a full carnival in 2024.

Hackney Carnival 2022

Hackney Carnival 2022 was cancelled to observe the official 10-day period of mourning due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

To read the statement from the Mayor of Hackney and Cllr Chris Kennedy, visit Hackney News.

Hackney Carnival at Home

As we continued to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic and deliver events in the safest way possible, Hackney Carnival was once again delivered online in 2021.

Building on the success of 2020’s Hackney Carnival at Home, which attracted over 60,000 interactions worldwide, the online programme included a summer-long community engagement programme in the run up to an online gala event filmed at the Hackney Empire.

A virtual carnival weekend of live-streamed fun was also streamed on social media channels.

Hackney Carnival at Home producers

Four carnival producers collaborated with Hackney’s many diverse carnival groups, having worked on the Hackney Carnival at Home project in 2020. They were:

Pax Nindi, international carnival consultant

CEO of ‘Global Carnivalz’ who wrote the Arts Council’s National Carnival Strategy. He has over 40 years of experience in delivering carnival projects in the UK and abroad. He is the Vice President of the World Carnival Commission and was the Creative Director for the Hackney Carnival from 2014-2019 and directed Hackney Virtual Carnival 2020.

Deborah Mullins, arts consultant and creative producer

Deborah is the founder, and from 1980 to 2019, the Artistic Director of Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) and has 20 years of working at a senior management level in carnival.

Manuela Benini, carnival artist and producer

Manuela has delivered large scale projects involving mass participation and carnivals all over the world. She has worked with Mandinga Arts, Shademakers, Walk the Plank, Festive Road, Rio and Olinda Carnivals (Brazil) and Transform Carnival (India, Brazil and Greece), to name just a few organisations.

Marva Antoine, carnival artist

Marva is the Managing Artistic Director for the award-winning, Hackney-based carnival group Tropical Isles. Marva has established Tropical Isles as a creative hub of excellence for carnivals in Hackney, which now plays a key role in the regeneration of the area around its carnival studio in De Beauvoir.

Participating schools

• Millfields Primary School
• Morningside Primary School and Children’s Centre
• Betty Layward Primary School
• Randal Cremer Primary School
• Colvestone Primary School
• St Paul’s with St Michael’s Primary School
• Springfield Primary School

Participating elders groups

• Uprising
• Hackney Caribbean Elders
• Hackney Carnival is funded and organised by Hackney Council

Hackney Carnival 2020

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020’s Hackney Carnival street parade was adapted to a series of online events throughout the summer called Hackney Carnival at Home.

In the run-up to the livestream Carnival weekender, Hackney’s community carnival groups delivered specially-created films demonstrating their talents and bringing the carnival spirit to people’s homes.

On 12 September, Reel Rebels Online Radio dedicated its airwaves especially to Hackney Carnival sound systems. On 13 September, the day the usual Carnival would have taken place, the virtual carnival day livestream event featured films from past processions, live bands from all over the world and an interactive dance challenge.

Both days of the event were programmed and presented by Pax Nindi Chief Executive of Global Carnivalz.

• replay the Hackney Carnival 2020 livestream on YouTube
• visit The Spirit of  Hackney Carnival for fascinating insights and learning resources on carnival culture.

Hackney Carnival 2019

2019’s carnival took place on Sunday 8 September from 11am to 7pm with spectacular costumes, energetic dance, sound systems and live music from around the world.

More than 25 carnival and community groups joined residents in a celebration of Hackney’s thriving cultures and outstanding creativity, as the procession weaved its way through the borough attracting up to 80,000 people.

The carnival also featured play areas in Gillett Square and the Town Hall, a live stage in Gillett Square and a party at Ridley Road with sound systems, global food and arts and crafts.