A Critical Reflection on the Notting Hill Carnival

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND LAW

INSTITUTE OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM

Assessment

INTRODUCTION

Managing cultural events, festivals, and celebration is significant in any nation as it is directly associated with the psychological and cultural beliefs of the people. Notting Hill Carnival is the event that took place every year in the month of august at Notting Hill Street, London (Dowell et al., 2019). Notting Hill Carnival is a socio-cultural event organised every year in the UK with the considerations of varied aspects such as demographic, psychographics and more. The aim of this essay involves critical reflection and personal experience of Notting Hill Carnival event in London. Majorly, the negatives and positives of the festivals, economic, social and cultural impacts would be discussed with personal experiences and examples followed by a discussion of sustainability creation and recommendations.

MAIN BODY

Notting Hill Carnival is a festival in the UK celebrated at a large level and with higher enthusiasm in people of UK/Worldwide. Notting Hill Carnival can be regarded as the most electrifying and one of the world’s biggest outdoor events/ festivals. Many people around the UK and Globe take participation in the Notting Hill Carnival festival and celebrate the diversity and cultures. Notting Hill Carnival event is as big as usually two million people take participation in the event which indicates the potential of the event as one of the largest events celebrated around the world (Ferdinand and Williams, 2018). The Notting Hill Carnival is mainly organised and managed by Carnival Village Trust (CVT) which is a registered charity in the year 2007 and is located in the heart of the diverse community of Notting Hill. The major aim or mission of Notting Hill Carnival event or CVT is to build on the continuing success of Notting Hill Carnival and to create and spectacular and safe event. Mainly, efficiently coordinate to support and facilitate the Notting Hill Carnival and protect and enhance the audience engagement and reach (NHC, 2022).

Notting Hill Carnival is basically a big street festival being celebrated that majorly takes place in the city of London every year. Notting Hill Carnival is a Caribbean festival that was first started in London in the year 1966. The Notting Hill Carnival event is led by the British West Indian community attracting many people around the world and making it one of the world's largest street festivals. It is a significant festival event in Black British Culture (Marshall, 2019). Andrews (2019), found that the event is all about the celebration of Caribbean arts, heritage and culture. This also involves food, music and dancing and the event is quite cultural and diverse which allows people to better interact with new and experience cultural heritage. About my personal experience of the event, I have been a part of the event in the year 2019 or before COVID-19. Mainly, this festival event is made to celebrate the British West Indian community people and it also encourages cultural unity. I totally admire Notting Hill Carnival event as it brings equality to people and allowed me to be a part of new cultures and traditions. My experience with Notting Hill Carnival was very great as I really enjoyed being a part of this festival, its food, music, dance and more. I got the chance to meet many people around and make several friends and contacts internationally and domestically (Schofield and Jones, 2019). Personally, I felt that Notting Hill Carnival is a type of festival that connects diverse people and ethnicities around the world. I plenty of people here singing, procession and dancing on the streets, the costume that people wore on that day I believe was a true ray of creativity and hard work. I found people spent months just working on their costumes with the aim to show themselves in a large parade. There at the festival event, all kinds of music, steel bands, salsa and reggae dancers or artists were taking a lead on the streets (Marshall, 2019).

However, there are positive and negative impacts of Notting Hill Carnival event that certainly impacted the environment and people in the city and the UK ultimately. Positively, the local and retailer business has grown during the festival month which allowed for-profit improvement and business growth. Also, London's image as a potential tourist destination and a cosmopolitan place is been increased, and the skills and attributes of people increased with these (Ferdinand and Williams, 2018). Majorly as a Socio-cultural benefit, the people started loving each other, accepting black, and increasing equality amongst the people which is the most impactful or positive factor of Notting Hill Carnival event. In addition, the social cohesion allows varied benefits that may outcome from the celebration of the Caribbean and other festive cultures at the Carnival. Moreover, people get the opportunity to interact with cultural diversity and enhance the overall engagement with the communities and rest traditions (Ferdinand and Williams, 2020). Also, the opportunities for marketing and promotion offered by the sponsorship of the carnival with the chances for launching products to the audience as an outcome of the carnival. Mainly, a visitor survey revealed that non-Caribbean people are more likely to eat Caribbean food following their visit to the Carnival. Personally, I felt that Notting Hill Carnival event is a way to collaborate with people with each, respect religions, enhance equality, enjoy the way you are and more I really appreciate and cherish this festival. This is the main reason that I love being a part of this festival every year (Andrews, 2019).

Apart from this, the BAFA study mainly suggests that every £1 million of revenue impacts around 32.1 full-time jobs generation. This indicates that Carnival produces 3000 full-time jobs per year. In addition, as a positive impact of Notting Hill Carnival, the event generated and contribute around £93 Million each year to the economy of London (TFConsultancy, 2022). Also, as a socio-economic impact the Notting Hill Carnival event mainly generated business opportunities for local sellers, singers, choreographers, songwriters, make-up artists, costume designers and builders, musicians and more. As per my experience, I have seen people water bottles, ice-creams, clothes, food and more to the people involved in the festival that certainly enhances the sales and enhances the profits of the locals. Apart from creating jobs, this event also enhances the GDP of the UK as the prices of commodities are higher than enhancing the overall sales of the products and ultimately the profit margin of the sellers and the UK government itself (Ferdinand and Williams, 2018).

As discussed above the Notting Hill event highly contributes to the economy of the country. It provides business opportunities to the costume designers, make-up artists, singers, musicians etc. the event creates various jobs that help in providing employment opportunities to a large number of local people (Saba, 2018). The event helps in increasing the sales and revenue of the local businesses. The event attracts people worldwide that increases foreign income in the country. People from different countries come to be a part of the event and it increases the contribution to the local economy. It increases the economic activities in different sectors like hospitality, media, entertainment and retail sectors (Saba, 2018). The carnival drives business growth for medium, small and micro organisations. During the carnival, the demand for the local craft and other local goods increases and it provides various advantages to the local community. It increases the production of local products and increases the revenue of the businesses (Raj and Simpson, 2015). I analysed that the Carnival is an important economic activity and it provides various economic benefits to the country.

Apart from this, there are also certain negative impacts of Notting Hill Carnival event that influence the overall functions and operations of the UK government and local communities. Majorly, the involvement of local people in the festival is significant for the satisfaction of visitors and the long term sustainability of the event. For instance; the host community is significant to develop cultural experiences for tourists as it helps in defining the atmosphere of the region and sense of place (Taylor and Kneafsey, 2016). Crowd congestion, traffic issues and more are the significant factors that impact the local communities and ultimately the government of the nation. Majorly, the pollution issues, price increases, increased crime issues and more are the potential negative factors with which people are getting impacted. For instance; in the year 2018, due to Notting Hill Carnival the pollution and around 300 tonnes of waste were generated after the event. However, it was cleared with the immediate response of the UK government such as 200 cleaners with the support of 30 refuse trucks and sweepers (Taylor and Kneafsey, 2016).

Unfortunately, I also experienced the negative aspects of this Notting Hill Carnival event that has certainly impacted the satisfaction of the people with the event. For instance; the street was overcrowded which has influenced the overall delivery of the event. Resultantly, the crowd congestion has been impacted by hooligan activities that started teasing and pushing people. I was scared on seeing this, thankfully cops and the event management team tackled such people which ultimately reduced the major tragedy of the occasion (Holder, 2017). However, I have enjoyed the event very much and I always love to be a part of the event in the near future too. In addition, there are certain live shows and music events that enhance the charm of the event and it attracts music lovers too which helps in effectively engaging people with the community.

The event focuses on promoting sustainability that helps reduce the impact of the event on the environment. There is a street cleaning team organised that works around the clock for cleaning the rubbish from the Notting Hill area. The cans are recycled and there are waste bins that encourage the people to recycle their leftovers. The local authority and government of the country take different steps for promoting sustainability and making the people aware of sustainability. The authority focuses on making all the elements in the carnival environmental friendly (Cuffy, 2017).

There are different companies and local businesses that take initiative for reducing plastic waste. For example- in the year 2018 Notting Hill Carnival the ‘Thames Water Bar’ provided free drinking water to the visitors helped in reducing plastic waste. The business encouraged the visitors to use reusable bottles and reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles. It helped in reducing waste and promoting sustainability (VANGÖLÜ, 2021). I found that the local cafes, pubs and community buildings in the area also contributed to the initiative for reducing plastic waste. They put stickers on the building, cafes etc. for welcoming the people to refill their water bottles. The people provided water for free for contributing to reducing plastic waste (Environment Journal, 2018). Ecotricity provided green electricity for the event that also supported in promotion of sustainability in the event. The company provided green energy for Yaa and Tabernacle Centre for the whole of August. The company also created awareness among the people regarding green energy through different activities. It helped in reducing carbon emissions. Another initiative taken in the event was to introduce food waste bins to traders. It helped to encourage the traders to recycle the food scraps they created. It helped in reducing food waste and helped in creating awareness among the people (Environment Journal, 2018).

The different initiatives taken by the local authority, businesses and government helped in increasing the sustainability of the event and it supported creating awareness among the people. Through the activities, the maximum waste generated through the event was recycled. The initiatives were taken to minimise plastic waste and it also helped in making the event more sustainable (Marshall, 2019). The green electricity use in the event also majorly contributed to making the event more sustainable and it also helped in increasing awareness among the people. The details provided of the sustainability of the Notting Hill Carnival are for the years 2018 and 2019. The event was not held in the year 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now it is expected to be held in the year 2022. The authorities will plan better initiatives for promoting sustainability in the event and reducing the pollution created due to the different activities of the event (Marshall, 2019).

Recommendations

There are different strategies that can be used by the event planners for promoting sustainability in the Notting Hill Carnival. Using the strategies will help in making the event more sustainable and it will help in increasing awareness among the people.

The local authorities can encourage the food sellers to use recyclable containers or biodegradable packaging for providing food to the customers. It will help in reducing plastic waste and will promote sustainability.

The authorities should use digital tools for planning for the event and other activities and should adopt a paper-free approach. The authority can use an app for communicating the information to others, provide e-tickets, use digital boards etc. (Mirzayeva et al., 2020).

The authorities should encourage the traders and people attending the event to go plastic-free. Using plastic cups, reusable or glass cups and bottles, using non-plastic packaging of the different products etc. will help in minimising the use of plastic and will promote sustainability.

In this event, the authorities can encourage the local businesses to use organic and locally produced drinks and food. It will help in reduce the carbon emissions caused to the transportation and will help in supporting the local businesses (Bostock et al., 2016).

CONCLUSION

Notting Hill Carnival is a large event that attracts a large number of visitors from around the world. The report includes the details of the socio-cultural positive and negative impacts of the event. The aim of the analysis was to critically reflect the personal experience of Notting Hill Carnival event in London. Further, it provides the details of the positive and negative economic impacts of the event. It helped in identifying how the event contributes to the economy and the betterment of the local people. The report focuses on identifying the strategies used by the local authorities for promoting sustainability in the event and reducing the impact of the different activities on the environment. The report is based on different examples and personal experience that promotes better understanding. On the basis of the analysis, the recommendation is provided for how the authorities managing the event can make it more sustainable in the future. The report provides detailed insights into the impacts of events on society, the economy and the environment. It helped in identifying the positive and negative impacts of the event and helped in understanding how the event can be improved in the future.

REFERENCES

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