News/Gazette       Wednesday, August, 2003. 17.
A fourfold rise in Luton Carnival grant.

AN article in The Times criticising the amount of public money being spent on festivals- “The fine art of torching your money”- singled out Luton carnival as one where the cost keeps going up.
The writer pointed out that this year Luton carnival was having a fourfold increase in its grant, to £124,500. Times writer Stephen Pollard said he was glad his taxes were going towards such worthwhile causes: “Luton wouldn’t be the Luton without its carnival”.
Luton Council replies: “The grant is awarded to Luton as it is recognised as a centre of excellence for the whole of the South East of England in training people throughout the year in the art and technique of carnival production. The Luton Carnival Arts Development Trust are already undertaking a comprehensive programme of carnival arts development with local young people and families”.
Future plans include:
-Establishing a new state-of-the-art national centre for carnival arts in Luton.
-Training people in set building, designing, music production and other carnival arts skills.
-Hosting residencies by internationally acclaimed carnival artists.
The trust also sprang to the defence of Luton’s annual Bank Holiday carnival.
It is an independent, voluntary organisation funded through the Arts Council of England. The council and the trust work in partnership but the trust does not run the carnival or finance the carnival in any way.
Each year the trust sets up camps for artists to develop costumes three months prior to carnival. This is underpinned by an annual calendar of carnival art workshops in schools, youth clubs, and community centres through a comprehensive outreach, youth inclusion programmes and through extended links with other festival events.