Carnival thrives through connection: collaboration, partnership and learning, sharing and developing skills. It thrives because of the differences between those involved which has taught us to embrace and value everybody we meet on this journey.
We see community as a coming together of all people, on both a local and global level without any boundaries or barriers that society has placed between us.
Carnival thrives through connection: collaboration, partnership and learning, sharing and developing skills. It thrives because of the differences between those involved which has taught us to embrace and value everybody we meet on this journey.
A driving ambition for our organisation is to increase the capacity of arts organisations in both Carnival and non-Carnival sectors to collaborate through authentic – and more diverse – cultural arts. We are stronger together, and the Global Grooves door is always open to our fellow arts organisations to seek advice, partner and collaborate or to simply share ideas, initiatives and energy to make great things happen.
If you’ve got an idea for something where Global Grooves would make an excellent partner, then we’re all ears. You just need to Get in touch!
Global Grooves feels immensely privileged to partner, support, and often host at our home, The Vale, the following community projects that share our vision in taking great art to the people:
The Incredible Plastic Street Band truly is incredible: a brass band specifically for young people aged 5-12 using plastic trumpets and trombones! An opportunity to learn these instruments in a fun, friendly, affordable and unique way; and the chance to create your own music for public appearances in local parades, events and carnivals.
Initially developed by our partners Bangdrum and funded by Youth Music, this unique band is now an independent organisation supported by Global Grooves, The Vale and People’s Health Trust. The original Incredible Plastic Street Band in Mossley meets at The Vale and has been so successful that they now have offshoots popping up all over the place… including opportunities for older children, too!
To learn more about the Incredible Plastic Street Band, please visit our Facebook page here.
Re-Create Mossley is a community project run by a diverse group of local people that shares a creative vision: to make art and crafting accessible and fun, and to share our skills and passion with artists, and groups at community events.
Global Grooves supported this group of local residents to come together, share skills, and eventually establish their own self-led group which meets weekly to pools ideas, skills and resources and creates crafty solutions for events across Mossley. Global Grooves now provides space at The Vale and support for informal meet-up’s to sessions that feature guest speakers and visiting artists, which are open to all.
Re-Create Mossley meets every Wednesday during term time at The Vale from 1pm-3pm. New faces are always welcomed with a brew and a biscuit and no experience is necessary – just a willingness to collaborate and share ideas. There is a suggested donation of £2 for each session to contribute to ongoing running costs, though the workshops themselves are free. Please note that this weekly activity is aimed at those aged 18+.
Cabasa Carnival Arts is a leading UK carnival arts organisation that resides alongside Global Grooves within The Vale. We are very proud to have been able to support and celebrate the flourishing development of this incredible organisation and they have been a key collaborative partner for us for the past 17 years. As Artistic Director, Emily Wood’s vision to spread the techniques and traditional methods of costume development and fabrication has made a huge impact on the quality and appeal of carnival artistry. With their dedicated team of artists and volunteers, Cabasa are highly acclaimed and recognised in their own right for their world class skills creating impressive structures, large puppets, fantastic costumes, and for promoting the history and heritage of carnival and local communities through percussion, dance, melody, and street theatre.
You can learn more about Cabasa Carnival Arts and get involved in volunteering in life changing creative projects here.
Our friends, Noisy Toys, are a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps best known for delivering hands-on workshops that combine music and science, Noisy Toys also create interactive installations for events as well as stage shows and ‘science busking’. Read more about these wizards here.
Bangdrum delivers UK-wide interactive schools workshops that hit key areas of the national curriculum. These cross-curricular workshops bring history, geography and the arts alive in ways that children find irresistible and unforgettable. Dance, drumming and percussion, cultural exploration… Bangdrum has a wealth of expert artists and practitioners ready to unleash on your students – and give them an experience to remember! You can find out more here.
Kyla Brox is an incredible Blues singer that we’re lucky to have on our doorstep. She and her band use the space at The Vale for rehearsals, and we’re also delighted she chose to release her album Throw Away Your Blues here, too. It’s always great to hear Kyla’s vocals drifting through floors… it makes ordinary work days magical. You can find out more about Kyla here.
Global Grooves is honoured to host the amazing Abney Orchestra at our home “The Vale”. This fun, friendly, community orchestra, plays light classics and popular film music. Based in Mossley and rehearsing regularly at The Vale, the orchestra is always seeking new members, with all ages and abilities welcome.
To learn more, please visit the Abney Orchestra website here.
When Global Grooves’ Artistic Director, Holly Prest, returned from Brazil, having been awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust travelling fellowship to further explore her knowledge of Brazilian culture, she founded Juba do Leão.
Manchester based, the band was founded in 2005 and offers both beginners and expert musicians and dancers the chance to broaden their understanding of Brazilian music and culture, as well as taking part in large-scale national performance events, education work, and youth engagement projects. Inspired by the floor-shaking rhythms and vibrant dances of North-Eastern Brazil, the band is a formidable powerhouse that prides itself on maintaining its original community spirit whilst striving for ambitious performance opportunities around the UK to share its jaw-dropping energy with willing ears!
And such was the popularity of Juba do Leão that Jubacana, its sister youth band, was born. Jubacana is a youth-led, fusion music and performance project based in Oldham for 8-18s, inspired by the music of Brazil, Africa and South-Asia with a UK twist.
Making a massive sound with Brazilian percussion instruments, creating original music with melodic guitars, bass, drum kit and flute thrown into the mix, all combined with vibrant dance choreographies, Jubacana is run by a team of inspirational young people supported by experienced arts leaders. The band and aims to reach new heights to show what young people can achieve through arts-based learning and performance.
SambaYaBamba is Glasgow’s 30-piece drumming bateria and brass section, rooted in the musical traditions of Brazilian Carnival – but also very much tailored to Glasgow audiences. Having begun as a community arts project in Paisley over 20 years ago, the band is equally at home on a huge stage, in a street parade or in a basement club. SambaYaBamba’s mission is to spread the love of Brazilian street music by providing access, performance and progression opportunities to all comers, achieved through constant beginner adult classes, brass taster sessions, dance workshops and a thriving, vibrant youth band. Global Grooves has been delighted to help SambaYaBamba over the years with advice and support, especially in setting up their amazing street band festival, Encontro.
Jack Drum Arts is a community interest company based in County Durham that provides a whole host of high quality accessible arts activities for people of all ages and abilities. At its base in the St Cuthbert’s Centre, Jack Drum runs weekly sessions for children and young people, complemented by its thriving youth arts café in Crook. An allotment in Roddymoor enables the organisation to facilitate outdoor arts and holistic therapy projects, while an outreach programme visits local schools, community centres, day care centres and residential homes around the County, delivering unique projects that work towards live performances, film premieres and exhibitions. In short, Jack Drum Arts are all-round good eggs, and often signpost their young people to our Future Leaders programme.
BeatLife is a fantastic band in Liverpool that organises youth and adult drum workshops across the city and performs up and down the country – and overseas! We joined forces with BeatLife to visit the Lake of Stars Festival in Malawi, performing and leading workshops. We remain great friends with BeatLife and many of their young people often find their way into our Future Leaders programme.
Grupo SambAfriq began in early 1998 when Steve and Julia Davies, who had been playing Samba regularly in Manchester, established a band in their native Chorley. The band’s current musical director, Owen Davies, was trained by Global Grooves’ very own Eraldo Marques, and the band play a mix of Samba, Samba Reggae, Afoxe, Maracatu, Afro bloco, Coco and other styles from various parts of Brazil.
Arco Iris is a Cambridge-based community Samba band who do great things, performing and coaching their vibrant band. Over the years, we’ve popped down to Cambridge to teach and lead masterclasses.
Jon Shaw, AKA Jon Mambo after years of playing with the Afro-Latin jazz band The Mambos, is a musician, technician and design and development engineer. With an honours degree in electronic engineering and many years experience working as a freelance design and development engineer in various specialities, Jon is head honcho of Mambo Amps, a brand of high-quality small yet powerful guitar amps made in Jon’s workshop in Mossley. Jon also brings his expertise to a wide range of Global Grooves projects, building and maintaining many of our puppets, and playing with our bands. In short, he’s a crucial member of the team that we couldn’t do without!
More Music is a music and education charity based in the West End of Morecambe, with over 25 years of experience delivering workshops, training, performances and festivals across the district, region and beyond. More Music seeks to build confidence and spirit in individuals and communities through the arts, especially music. An Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation, More Music is also part of Youth Music’s Alliance for a Musically Inclusive England. We’ve been supported by More Music many times over the years, with advice and consultancy, while we’ve been fortunate enough to return the favour with percussion workshops.
We’ve long been admirers of Brighter Sound, a creative music charity based in Manchester. For almost 20 years, Brighter Sound has been delivering a programme of exciting, relevant, creative projects and events to support young and emerging musicians, working with music makers from their early years to their early careers. Alongside connecting participants with established musicians, the organisation also delivers a broad programme of grass-roots music making opportunities for children and young people, supporting inclusive music making as the regional strategic partner for Youth Music.
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