Entrepreneurial Legacies of Notting Hill Masquerade Bands
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Transcript of Entrepreneurial Legacies of Notting Hill Masquerade Bands
The Entrepreneurial
Legacy of the
Notting Hill
Masquerade Bands Nicole Ferdinand, PhD. Candidate, CMCI,
King’s College London
Discourse on the Entrepreneurial
Legacy of the Notting Hill Carnival
“We have so many Carnivals happening all over the
world but what do we really get out of them?”
(First Up, 2012)
[it is] “particularly galling to Trinidadians”that the popularity of carnivals [like
Notting Hill] “has not translated into anything of tangible value for
Trinidadians in Trinidad save for the handful of designers or bandleaders who
have been able to ply their trade overseas.” (Green and Scher, 2007:22)
Literature Review
Festival Tourism
• Mainly focused on attracting customers
• Focus on specific, single case studies
• “over-emphasis on consumer-behaviour theory and methods” (Getz, 2010: 20)
Cultural Studies
• Dominated by politically or sociologically focused research aims
• Investigate the cultural production process in an indirect manner (e.g. by examining texts or media reports)
Human Geography
• Focused on capturing ‘cultural landscapes’
• Highlight the linkages between festivals in Diaspora communities and their countries of origin
Int’l Business
• Dominated by the study manufactured goods , few studies on experience goods of any kind
• Actor networks, resource management
• Configuration
• Paths
Research Questions
How do festivals become
international?
Q1. How are festivals adapted and
spread in the process of
internationalization?
Q2. What international business
activities do festival organisations
participate in?
Q3. What are the benefits for the
country of origin of festival
internationalization?
Nested or embedded case study
Methodology
Notting Hill Carnival can be described as a single unit of analysis and its four
cultural arenas as nested or embedded units within it (Swanborn, 2010).
Initial Findings & Analysis
Case study of
Masquerade Bands
•9 interviews (October
2011- January 2012)
•9 current CMAF
members
•2 former NHMBA
executive members
•1 current CMAF
executive member
•Archival research which
includes:
•Media reports and
other reports, internal
memos and
organization materials
Initial Findings & Analysis
Festival Development
Actor Network Theory:
Framing, focal actor,
OPP, enrollment of
actors, outcomes
“Our artists are not Piccassoes …. They are not
reviewed in the Times or the Guardian…. They
are nevertheless artists in their own right….
Our art is valid and as important as any other.”
(Cohen, 1978 cited in Cohen, 1993: 46)
Problem
Framing
Focal
Actor
Obligatory
Passage
Point
Actors
Enrolled
Outcomes
Trinidadian /Black
Cultural
Celebration
(1970s)
Carnival
Development
Committee
Fit with TT
culture and
concerns of
Black Britain
Trinidadians,
Trinidadian festival
organizers
Masquerade makers
• Sound Systems.
Arts Council
• ‘Trinidadianizing
‘of the festival
• Funding from Arts
Council
• Festival grows to
100,000
“The two old committees virtually lost their
control over the bands and, in view of their
past bickering and of their failure to submit
publicly accurate accounts they became
discredited.” (Cohen, 1993: 47)
Problem
Framing
Focal
Actor
Obligatory
Passage
Point
Actors
Enrolled
Outcomes
Trinidadian /Black
Cultural
Celebration
(1970s)
Carnival
Development
Committee1
Fit with TT
culture and
concerns of
Black Britain
Trinidadians,
Trinidadian festival
organizers,
masquerade makers
Sound Systems. Arts
Council
•‘Trinidadianizing
‘of the festival
•Funding from Arts
Council
•Festival grows to
100,000
UK Arts Festival
(early 1980s)
Arts council Meet
requirements of
arts council
UK masquerade
bands
• Dual carnival
organizations
forced to become
one to meet Arts
Council
requirements
“At least when we had Claire we had money […]
back in [those] days we use to win prizes and
we used to make at least 2000 pounds from
being on the road.”
- Interviewee 3
Problem
Framing
Focal
Actor
Obligatory
Passage
Point
Actors
Enrolled
Outcomes
Trinidadian /Black
Cultural
Celebration
(1970s)
Carnival
Development
Committee1
Fit with TT
culture and
concerns of
Black Britain
Trinidadians,
Trinidadian festival
organizers,
masquerade makers
Sound Systems. Arts
Council
• ‘Trinidadianizing
‘of the festival
•Funding from Arts
Council
•Festival grows to
100,000
UK Arts Festival
(early 1980s)
Arts council Meet
requirements of
arts council
UK masquerade
bands
• Carnival
organizations
forced to merge to
meet accountability
requirements
Carnival Means
Business
(mid-late 1980s)
Carnival Arts
Committee
Commercial
focus
Masquerade makers
of non-Caribbean
origins (especially
Brazilian)
• Festival grows to
1M.
• Arts education
becomes key to
masquerade
bands.
Sponsorship
Opportunity
(1990s)
CEC/ Notting
Hill
Carnival
Trust
Commercial
focus
Big business (Virgin,
BT and Coca-Cola)
•Financial surplus,
•Festival grows to
2M.
“… during the Golden Jubilee year […] people
[masquerade band leaders] starting seeing the
benefits of performing coming […] and what
did they do? They ganged up and go rid of
Claire Holder […] and they’ve never recovered,
so sponsors and funding and all of those
various things, they killed it.”
- Interviewee 5
Problem
Framing
Focal
Actor
Obligatory
Passage
Point
Actors
Enrolled
Outcomes
Trinidadian /Black
Cultural
Celebration
(1970s)
Carnival
Development
Committee1
Fit with TT
culture and
concerns of
Black Britain
Trinidadians,
Trinidadian festival
organizers,
masquerade makers
Sound Systems. Arts
Council
• ‘Trinidadianizing
‘of the festival
Funding from Arts
Council. Festival
grows to 100,000
UK Arts Festival
(early 1980s)
Arts council Meet
requirements of
arts council
UK masquerade
bands
• Carnival
organizations
forced to merge to
meet accountability
requirements
Carnival Means
Business
(mid-late 1980s)
Carnival Arts
Committee
Commercial
focus
Masquerade makers
of non-Caribbean
origins (especially
Brazilian)
• Festival grows to
1M.
• Arts education
becomes key to
masquerade
bands.
Sponsorship
Opportunity
(1990s)
CEC/ Notting
Hill
Carnival
Trust
Commercial
focus
Big business (Virgin,
BT and Coca-Cola)
•Financial surplus,
•Festival grows to
2M.
Turmoil,
Transition
(00s –present)
? Accountability Other festival
organizations,
smaller sponsors
•Loss of
commercial
support,
•Reduced Arts
Council funding
Festival Development
Festival International-
ization
Models of
Internationalization:
Stage, Resource,
Network
Initial Findings & Analysis
Actor Network Theory:
Framing, focal actor,
OPP, enrollment of
actors, outcomes
“I don’t think there would be any carnivals in
London without Notting Hill Carnival. The
focus of most bands in London is Notting Hill,
but they would do Thames Festival or
Hackney or this or that but basically it you
take away Notting Hill it won’t work anymore.”
- Interviewee 4
0
Coventry
Derby
*Bridgewater
Huddersfield
Luton
Bristol
*London
Manchester
Leeds
Liverpool
Chesam
0
*Coventry
Derby
*Bridgewater
Huddersfield
Luton
Bristol
*London
Manchester
Leeds
Liverpool
Chesam
UK Masquerade
Band Carnival
Circuit • Calo Festival
• One Hackney Festival
• The Mayor’s Thames Festival
• Bridgwater Guy Fawkes
Carnival
• Caribbean Carnival of Manchester
• Coventry Caribbean Festival
• Derby Caribbean Carnival
• Huddersfield Carnival
• Liverpool International Street Carnival
• Luton International Festival
• Schools of Chesham Carnival
• St. Paul’s Carnival Bristol
• The Leeds West Indian Carnival
From Notting Hill to the World
*Brazil
Trinidad
Cayman
Islands
*Taiwan
Seychelles
the Netherlands
*Germany
Port-of-Spain, Grand Cayman, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador,
Rotterdam, Berlin, Dortmund, Hamburg, Seychelles
&Tamsui
Internationalization: Modes & Directions
Festival International-
ization
Festival Development
Configuration of
Activities
Initial Findings & Analysis
Models of
Internationalization:
Stage, Resource,
Network
Actor Network Theory:
Framing, focal actor,
OPP, enrollment of
actors, outcomes
“I came here and I worked in London Notting Hill Carnival as a
designer of a group for four years. I spent sometimes 4-6months
working for summer.”
-Interviewee MB3
“All the costumes are made in Brazil. All
the drums are made in Brazil. Most of
the T-shirts are printed in Brazil.”
-Interviewee MB2
“...in India I run a skill development project where I help people in a
village who do embroidery ...”
- Interviewee MB3
“This year we are going to Germany for a stage performance. We’ve
also done workshops in Germany ...”
- Interviewee MB6
Inward Internationalization
Imports
• Masquerade design
• Semi-finished and finished
costumes
• Musicians’ and vocalists’ services
• Musical instruments
• Managerial expertise
Outward Internationalization
Exports
• Masquerade design
• Finished costumes
• Production expertise
• Managerial expertise
• Festival appearances
• Carnival consultancy
• Notting Hill Carnival is a festival which is served by a complex,
interlinked web of actor networks and resource interactions which
enables multiple modes and directions of international business activity
• Its integration of international production and consumption activities has
more in common with previous work on cultural clusters (Mommaas
2004) and interactive networks, or cultural production systems (Pratt
2008) rather than most festival tourism research which focuses on
consumer behaviour with a fixed festival environment
• The Notting Hill Carnival’s cultural entrepreneurs rather than
incompetent (Burr 2006) have been skillful actors in their negotiations
with state bodies and sponsors and have been innovative with their use
of resources
• Rather than being thieves of the Trinidadian culture (Green 2007) these
cultural entrepreneurs have provided Trinidadian and Brazilian artists
and designers with employment and export opportunities
Discussion
Conclusions
• Mapping of the Notting Hill Carnival as an experience
production system (Ferdinand and Williams, 2012) is
urgently needed to attract additional resources and new
actors to contribute to the carnival (e.g. multi-national firms,
television networks, other Caribbean Carnival organizations)
• Festivals like the Notting Hill Carnival present a unique
opportunity for cultural entrepreneurs to learn a complex
range of business skills, with minimal investment
• Festival organizations need to be wary of outsiders (e.g.
funding agencies and sponsors) framing their festivals in
ways which do not benefit the festival community
Thank You For Listening
E-mail: [email protected]
Nicole Ferdinand @evntmgt
http://facebook.com/Ms.NicoleFerdinand