COWLEY ROAD CARNIVAL BRIMMING WITH FUN FOR OXFORD'S BIG DAY OUT

The Cowley Road Carnival is bursting with creativity and talent and we can't wait On 10 July the traffic will stop and at noon the street will erupt into life and pulsate with colour and rhythm as the community takes over with dance, music, art, pop-up performances and stalls for the annual festivities. One thing is for sure - with such a packed programme there is something to interest and excite everyone young, old and all of us in-between.

Get there early at 11.45 am and you join 110 dogs as they progress from The Mill to sites along the road. The dogs have been created by artist Tom Campbell in collaboration with theThe Mill (a centre run for people with Mental Health problems run by Oxfordshire Mind). The dogs will be on display from 11 am and will be sold with profits to go to Oxfordshire Mind.

(photoColin Garrard)

There are 25 stages and performance venues all the way from The Plain to Magdalen Road including the Bullingdon Car Park (behind Tesco), Manzil Gardens and all along Manzil Way to the World Stage at the Asian Cultural Centre.

There are three music stages in the Bullingdon Car Park area alone with live bands on The Bullingdon stage (Chad Valley, Document One, Maiians, ZAIA, Georges Musical Medicine); the Simple stage (back for its 10^thyear but moved from its traditional spot outside Blanco) and Fresh Range Roots (reggae) stage. The Bullingdon Car Park will also have fairground rides, two official bars including the Bullingdon cocktail bar, food and seating.

Every genre of music is represented so all tastes are catered for from Carnival classics such as reggae and thePlatinum Linx & White Magic Sound at the East Oxford Community Centre or Ran Kan Kan and the Lani Singers on the World Stage at the Asian Cultural Centre to techno, folk, rockabilly, irish to indie and rock and from acoustic to hip hop, drum and base and dub So something for everyone. Take a look at the websitewww.cowleyroadcarnival.co.ukand check out what's on where to plan your day and make sure you don't miss one of your favourite bands. Programmes will also be available as you arrive at the festival site.

Dance to the Manzil Gardens stage where there will be anafternoon with a packed programme showcasing local dance groups. Special guests 2Faced Dance Company are performing KAPOW Presented by Dancin' Oxford and Oxford Playhouse. Claire Thompson of Dancin' Oxford says: "Look forward to phenomenal dance, vibrant costumes and audience interaction. Witness the inaugural Superhero Games when three of Planet Earth's greatest superheroes battle it out for the title of Most Supreme Superhero...Ever.  There'll be goodies, baddies, quick changes and finally a superhero."

Kapow

The procession at the heart of Carnival starts at 2pm from opposite the Music Box at the near The Plain and takes its theme ‘All the World's a Stage' from ‘As You Like It' in recognition of the Shakespeare 400 celebrations. Many of the schools and community groups are busy designing and making costumes based the bard's best known plays. Pupils atSt Gregory the Great in East Oxford and Botley Primary are planning costumes, music and dance celebrating ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream' while St Barnabas School has chosen ‘The Tempest' and is bringing a boat out of recycled materials. Wood Farm School is busy making theatrical masks for their group. Look out for 1 Afro Fusion dance and Sol Samba too for Carnival beats, colour and dance.

(Picture Kourosh Korshidfar)

The procession will progress up the length of the Cowley Road before finishing at the Church of St Mary & St John. Where can explore our Discovery area where drama meets science and history. Pitt Rivers will be there with exhibits you can handle from the Oxford University Museums' collections, take part in a science demonstration, climb the tower for a bird's eye view of Carnival. And don't miss pop up performances of Midsummer Night's Dream ballet from Yuka Kodama Ballet and extracts from Twelfth Night and Love's Labour's Lost in the churchyard from the Oxford Theatre Guild and Oxford Shakespeare Company. And yes ... there will be cake.

Wend your way to the Dingley Dell (at the end of Manzil Way) with younger children for a magical and relaxed vibe, a Teddy Bear's Picnic Family Garden Party picnic area, the Saltbox stage with interactive music workshops and acoustic sets ... and Pimms for the grown-ups.

Oxford Brookes are celebrating 125 years of nursing education. Get a health check and get your blood pressure taken, practice life support (resuscitation), use a defibrillator machine, explore the ingredients of blood and keep fit with activities from the University's Centre for Sport.

And last but not least .... Food and drink! The glories of festival food are one of the great joys of Carnival Day. The restaurants and bars along the Cowley Road provide delicious temptation all along the street, and then there are all the stalls with even more to try. There is so much choice - dishes from Indonesia, Tibet, Nepal, smoked, pulled and barbecued pork and beef and plenty of Carnival favourite jerk chicken. All Keep room for cake and ice cream. You can rely on Restore for a restorative cuppa at café and in the oasis of the garden. For stronger stuff, please support the official Carnival bars. There are two in the Bullingdon Car Park area behind Tesco, one in Manzil Gardens and a Pimms bar in Dingley Dell.

Johannah Aynsley, the new Executive Director for Cowley Road Works, the charity behind the organisaton of the Carnival says: "Leave your worries at home and join us in the streets for a celebration of life, community, culture, diversity and the arts.

We are busting at the seams with music from around the world, art, spoken word, theatre performance, dance, interactive workshops, learning zones, family activities and global culinary delights.

There is lots to celebrate in the 2016 Carnival, not least the increase in the number of stages and programmed areas to explore and enjoy. We have improved the quality of cultural content throughout the day, the spectrum of performance and activity will push the boundaries of previous carnivals and set the tone for future Carnivals to come."

This year festival-goers are asked to‘pay a pound to keep carnival around'to help towards Carnival costs which now amount to £150,000 a year. Collections will be made and programmes sold at all the entry points to the Carnival site. The Carnival receives £30,000 a year funding from Oxford City Council in another three-year agreement to 2018, leaving £120,000 to be raised this year alone.

Carnival starts at noon, so don't be late.

For more details of this year's Carnival see the website atwww.cowleyroadcarnival.co.uk

Ends

Notes to editors

For more detailed information and listings of what is on where, photographs and to arrange interviews with performers, volunteers or Johannah Aynsley, please contact Sarah Airey at sarah.airey@thebuzzworks.co.uk telephone 07855 086447.

Cowley Road Carnival is organised by Cowley Road Works, a registered charity.

Cowley Road Carnival receives core funding from Oxford City Council. Other organisations who have already agreed to support Carnival 2016 include: The Arts Council, Oxford Brookes University, the Patsy Wood Trust, Bybox, Stagecoach, Chamberlain Evans, Penny & Sinclair, Sovereign, Bounce, Daily Info and The Co-Op.