COWLEY Road Carnival organisers are urging businesses to sponsor the thriving street parade and the community art projects it funds.

They have been supported by the MP for Oxford East, Anneliese Dodds, who met with Cowley Road Works (CRW), the charity behind the organisation of the carnival, last week.

She said: “People might have heard of Cowley Road Works because of the Cowley Road Carnival – who hasn’t heard of the Cowley Road Carnival? – but they probably don’t know so much about the other things that Cowley Road Works does all year round."

She explained the CRW had a 'huge' programme of arts activities involving people from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout East Oxford and beyond.

The MP added: “It costs a lot to put the programme on – about a quarter of a million pounds – in order to deliver a really successful carnival and also lots of arts outreach.

"So I am encouraging lots of local businesses to get involved to contribute to make sure that we keep having such a terrific carnival, a wonderful celebration for everybody, and keep that arts outreach going as well.

"Particularly for some of our most disadvantaged children and other communities.”

Throughout the year, the CRW leads projects which nurture talent and develop skills in people who would not get these opportunities in any other way.

The charity also funds other local grass roots community groups and organisations to support their own creative projects.

The carnival is the flagship event of the year’s work and last July the event generated more than £1million for the area, as well as attracting crowds of 50,000.

Hundreds of performers danced, sang, played music and performed spoken word on 34 stages, with 650 people in total involved.

However the work of the charity is all year round and in 2017 the CRW has led projects, funded by the Arts Council, with children from four primary schools to create artworks based on their exploration of world-class science and technology at the Harwell Campus; music-making and recording with the Young Women’s Music Project, Street Art which can be seen at five sites adjacent to the Cowley Road, as well as flag-making with Restore mental health charity.

Over the coming year the charity is also working with community groups, especially Asian women, on the Freewheeling project which will present a series of art events and workshops using the bike as both vehicle and metaphor for freedom and social change.

Johannah Aynsley, executive director of CRW, said: “We are going from strength to strength, building on the most successful carnival ever this year, and our growing programme of community outreach throughout the year.

“We are looking for more businesses and organisations to sponsor our work, both projects throughout the year and special events including the carnival itself.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to put something back into the community."

She asked anyone interested in getting involved to contact the charity via cowleyroadcarnival.co.uk to discuss projects.