COTTON CARNIVAL

Leon is responsible for the overall creative development of 'Creating Carnival '. With over 25+ years of experience performing, creating and producing processional events, we're in safe hands...

As probably the youngest producer working on the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant Activities, Freya is certainly making waves. She leads on the overall production of Global Grooves projects, delivering events of all scales.

Emily is Artistic Director of Cabasa. She is responsible for the overall visual aesthetic of the project, managing our team of professional visual artists and makers.

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, and now living in working here in Manchester, Adriana is one the UK's leading Carnival choreographers. A skilled internationally touring performer and dancer with some of Brazil’s very best championship Samba Schools, we honoured to have her with us.

Emma is a multi-instrumentalist, top class performer, composer and arranger with a specialism in international percussion styles, and at just 21 she is one to watch. Perhaps the youngest musical director working on the Queen's Jubilee Pageant, she brings an energy, skill and quality of artistry that’s simply unmatched.

Jack will be leading on the creation of melody for our performance, weaving together his many musical influences and skills to produce a new piece. This will be played and performed by local Brass players and ensembles.

Iola is the chief designer, maker, and creator of our production's lead figure head 'The Spirit of Courage'. A regular face in the Global Grooves studios, she will be bringing together her years of knowledge and experience to guide us in the creation something truly special and unique.

Tony mason is an incredible maker and engineer. He has collaborated with Global Grooves for many years helping to develop our Carnival and walkabout structures. He is developing one of our lead carnival puppets for this event.

Chris has been working with Global Grooves since 2012 when he joined our associate artist team as a lead maker on our award winning 'Junk Jam' Carnival project. He will be leading on the design, fabrication, and creation of a new Carnival puppet for this year's parade exploring innovative techniques in 3D printing for large-scale works.

Bridget joined the Global Grooves team in 2016 as part of Creating Carnival. Having performed with Global Grooves previously, she was then offered the opportunity to choreograph the dance for The Tempest. We are overjoyed to have her on the team again to bring her unique flavour and style to the choreography of one of our sections of dancers.

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire... Jon Mambo. Perhaps Carnival's best kept secret, Jon brings a wealth of creative thinking, technical expertise, and problem solving to any project. Who knows what he will bring this time, but we know it will be invaluable!

Kate has been working as a producer and performer for Global Grooves since discovering the power of Carnival. Now pursuing her love for visual arts and making, she is a freelance artists and producer for our lead partner Cabasa and will be responsible for much of the creative makes in our studios.

Lizzie is a skilled visual artist, painter, and performer who will be supporting the creation of our visual images in our studios at The Vale. A skilled workshop leader, she will be supporting hundreds of makers to create this new work.

Mel has worked with Global Grooves as a lead artist since 2013. An incredibly talented artist and maker, she has led on some of our most intricate makes and projects, always bringing her own unique style and aesthetic to our work. We can’t wait to see what she brings next.

Dan is a multi instrumentalist, visual artist, and marketeer who has been working and performing with us since 2009. He is also the studio's 'silk master' and is responsible for praparing and finishing thousands of metres of batiked and painted silk for Global Grooves, Cabasa, and Kinetika every year.

Rowan has been working with Global Grooves since 2016. A skilled freelance performer, maker and designer, she will be joining us on this project as a lead artist designing and making key elements of the parade alongside our communities in our studios.

Gordon is a regular face at our studios and a skilled visual artist, producer, workshop facilitator and sculptor. He brings a wealth of experience, particularly in our local community heling participants to experience high quality arts engagement.

Alison is one of the more recent faces in our friendly studio and brings with her a wealth of experience in making, design, and fabrication. Alison will be working closely with Emily and the Cabasa team to put together some stunning new costumes and images for our 200 strong performance group.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Founded 1980, EEA began as an artists’ collective born out of a desire to radically transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Historic England is leading the High Street Cultural Programme in partnership with National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Arts Council England as part of the High Streets Heritage Action Zones initiative funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

This project has been made possible in Tameside though generous support from TMBC and their culture team.

The Bridge is a 4 year cultural heritage programme made up of 4 key strands of activity. Our pledge is to bring people together to make Stalybridge a place we have designed together, and help create new memories and traditions.

Cabasa is our lead costume, structures, and flags design and fabrication partner based at our home, The Vale. They are responsible for the visual aesthetics of the parade and visual arts outreach programmes under the direction Cabasa’s Artistic Director and lead artist Emily Wood.

The Vale is the home of Carnival for Greater Manchester. Managed by Global Grooves, our Creating Carnival projects are made, rehearsed, and designed in this space.