Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah goes to the Notting Hill Carnival to meet some of the multitude who create the event and discovers most are volunteers, passionate about preserving the heritage of carnival culture.

Among them are several veterans who were involved in the first indoor carnival and the first street festival and who are still at the heart of the carnival community today. Young and old, they are all adjusting to a new era of regulations and negotiations with powerful stakeholders.

Some old conflicts have been resolved but new pressures are appearing elsewhere in the carnival that demand a different way of working. Kwame discovers that the Notting Hill Carnival is an event with a history of transforming itself and today it's doing so by diversifying and building new partnerships.

Producer: Pam Fraser Solomon
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4. Show less