About Us

Yorkshire Carnival

Our Mission

We use our Eastern Caribbean culture and heritage to engage with people and communities through celebration. We aim to bring out the very best in people, while helping them to achieve their creative potential through them through the production of excellent indoor and outdoor events.

Our Values

We believe that the Eastern Caribbean Culture should be performed in the community year after year in order to keep the cultural arts alive. Therefore, we want to reach out to everyone in the community through the Caribbean creative arts of performance, dance, traditional music and masquerading.

The Eastern Caribbean arts has roots in the celebration of freedom and has the power to change lives, making a real difference to our multicultural communities.
This is evident whenever the community unites to celebrate Eastern Caribbean carnival events and festivities.
The arts were handed down in the teachings and practices of our great ancestors in the Caribbean before us. In respect of this we encourage the community to make choices together.
Each project we get involved in forms a unique journey. All the events we create become learning experiences. The carnival theme concepts often derive from the community, which embeds community spirit in the heart of event. We use the ears and voices of the community we help shape ambitious and resourceful parades.
Dance and music become a community team event. The excellence and quality of performance, dance, costumes, Soca and calypso singers are always of an extremely high standard.
At all levels the community achieves a sense of personal achievements, which often exceeds our expectations and keeps our Eastern Caribbean Culture Alive.

Our vision

The Yorkshire West Indian Carnival Network Aims to:

  • Provide Carnival workshops, events, musical shows, all-year-round.
  • We aim to chart the progressiveness and responsiveness of audiences within and around the community.
  • Create collaboration raise the quality and diversity of opportunities for Artists, local , national and touring troupes
  • Deliver an outreach programmes in rural and distance communities to engage more audiences
  • Use Social Media to encourage use of latest technologies and innovations in order to pursue excellence in the field.
  • Promote business development and opportunities within the sector
  • Support regional and national carnival development by working in partnership with other arts organisations, institutions and creative partners.

Schools and Education

The Yorkshire West Indian Carnival Network is looking to outreach to local schools and colleges. We believe that learning about the Eastern Caribbean Culture should be fun. Learning through the carnival arts is entertaining, exciting, colourful and fun. Our aim is to introduce the carnival arts to a variety of learning institutions such as schools and colleges, in order to reach the audiences of the future. Younger generations will explore materials, fabrics, mask making, painting, costume design, costume making, performance, drumming and a array of carnival activities and crafts.

Artists Workshops

The team at The Yorkshire West Indian Carnival Network have years of experience working in the carnival arena and cultural arts sector. We aim to share our cultural expertise in many forms to enhance the Eastern Caribbean Carnival community’s cultural awareness.

We offer leader training to community groups and encourage engagement in the arts, training courses and many workshops to include large costume making, flags, banner making and music making. Theses workshops brings immense engagement and encouragement to all who attend; mentoring is continuous for all participants and delivered by traditionally artists and professionals representing a variety of arts and design forms.

Workforce Development

Yorkshire West Indian Carnival Network is a member of the R B Joseph’s ‘The Worlds Cultural Productions’. Yorkshire West Indian Carnival is the home base of Huddersfield Soca Radio and TV. The radio which is the powerhouse of Yorkshire for Eastern Caribbean Music. Raising the Standard for Carnival is our aim through a commitment to
new technologies on behalf of the community. By working with professional artists we are able to offer important carnival workshops incorporating high quality training and skills, encouraging team working in areas like costume making. All participants gain some form of relevant knowledge and experience throughout the workshops.