Cowley Road Carnival 2020 is coming to a sofa near you after organisers decided to turn this year’s event into a virtual carnival instead.

The spirit of the region’s second biggest street carnival lives on, following the announcement this week that the team has been busy developing projects and activities which everyone will be able to enjoy at home, leading to a virtual Carnival Day on July 5.

“At this difficult time, it is important to keep spirits up and we hope to bring Carnival joy to Oxford with a series of projects and activities which you can all get involved with at home.”

Cowley Road Works, the charity which organises the annual Cowley Road Carnival, took the sad but necessary decision to cancel this year’s street festival, as it became apparent that large outdoor festivals could not proceed due to the situation surrounding COVID-19. 

Clare O’Hara, director of Cowley Road Works said: “At this difficult time, it is important to keep spirits up and we hope to bring Carnival joy to Oxford with a series of projects and activities which you can all get involved with at home.” 

The plan is to get the whole community behind a virtual Carnival. The idea is to get everyone to contribute – through submitting photography, film, sound and written words – featuring all the amazing dance, music, poetry, performance, food, games and other carnival fun to share and celebrate this unique virtual Carnival Day. 

“We are absolutely committed to bringing Carnival joy and colour to brighten the Summer of 2020.  We can’t wait to see all your dance moves, music and masks, lanterns and poetry”

There are even plans for a virtual drum school and flash mob. See more details of how to get involved and how to submit material on the virtual carnival section of the website at www.cowleyroadworks.co.uk

There are also some simple creative ‘makes’ for children – and grown-ups – to get creative with using materials at hand in the home to make headdresses and lanterns.  See more details at the Carnival at Home section of the website at http://www.cowleyroadworks.co.uk

There will be more projects over the coming weeks including a film competition and learning projects for primary-age children. 

The key element to being part of Carnival at Home is to send in film or photos of your work, the website features some guidelines to help get you started and share via twitter @CowleyCarnival #VirtualCarnival #CowleyRoadCarnival, Facebook or tag them on Instagram. 

Clare said: “We are absolutely committed to bringing Carnival joy and colour to brighten the Summer of 2020.  We can’t wait to see all your dance moves, music and masks, lanterns and poetry, especially if you can film it all and we can stream it on Carnival Day and showcase through our website and social media.

“I am specially looking forward to some delicious Carnival street food recipes to try at home too.” 

Cowley Road Works is the charity which organised the iconic Cowley Road Carnival, the second largest carnival in the South-East after Notting Hill.

Cowley Road Works delivers a rolling programme of county-wide outreach, creating opportunities to nurture talent, skills, and development and engaging communities through exposure to excellence in arts and culture. 

To get involved in Carnival at Home see www.cowleyroadworks.co.uk