Enfield Caribbean Association celebrates Black History Month

Sola Akingbola

October is Black History Month and we caught up with Enfield Caribbean Association who celebrated with the ‘Pineapple Punch Festival’, a community event part funded through the Awards for All programme, which gives out small grants between £300 and £10,000. The group received a grant for £6,175. Sarah Betton who works with Enfield Caribbean Association shares a few reflections of the experience and provides some guidance for other projects looking for funding.

Tell us a bit more about your project

The festival was part of the opening celebrations for Black History Month in the borough of Enfield. We wanted an event that focused on celebrating the positive contributions that black culture has made to the UK.

We had a number of artists who participated such as Heidi Vogel (Cinematic Orchestra), Sola Akingbola (Jamiroquai) and artist Jon Daniel, whose Afro Supa Hero art exhibition is touring with the V&A Museum. The event attracted local media and we were featured in Winchmore Hill Advertiser & Herald.

We will end Black History Month with ‘Black Firsts’, a celebration of those who were first in their field in the UK.

The reggae choir

What advice would you give other community groups seeking funding for a black history themed event, or any other event?

I would encourage them to apply. They should include evidence of public engagement and how their project can help to unite the community by being accessible to people from all backgrounds.

Jon Daniels and his Afro Supa Hero books

What was your biggest challenge in putting on the event?

We worked in collaboration with other organisations. We didn’t receive as much support with the promotion as we had anticipated, which meant that word of our event didn’t reach all of our potential audience. In retrospect we should have put a stronger service agreement in place to ensure people were clear on their responsibilities.

When you were applying for the funding, did anyone advise you on how to complete the application form?

We did not get any advice, but we made sure we did our research and included evidence where we could.

If you are interested in applying for funding you can find our more on our website.

We receive a lot of unfinished applications forms so if there is a section of the form you are unsure about we recommend contacting our Advice Team on 03454 10 20 30 who are happy to help.

The Awards for All programme is competitive and funding is limited so we’d suggest that anyone thinking about applying should contact our Advice Team before they apply. We can help them get a better understanding of the application process and likelihood of receiving funding.

Thanks to Enfield Caribbean Association for answering our questions! For more information about what they do, visit their website www.enfieldcaribbeanassoc.org.uk