Edinburgh Caribbean Association partnered with the Edinburgh Festival Carnival in 2021 to run a Caribbean-Scottish Youth Performance Project for young people (14-25) from Caribbean backgrounds living in Edinburgh.
Participants learned about Caribbean people who have lived here over the centuries and channelled their stories through traditional Caribbean Carnival masquerade characters that have elements of speech, drama and lyrical contest, like Midnight Robber and Shakespeare Mas.
In addition to meeting Shakespeare Mas practitioners from Carriacou, Grenada, masterclasses with Caribbean heritage artists in Scotland and the UK included spoken word with poet Courtney Stoddart, creative writing with author Dean Atta, traditional Carnival masquerade with Carnival arts practitioner Ray Mahabir, performance (voice, movement) workshop with tutor Ethelinda Lashley-Scott.
The young people’s creative responses were filmed at iconic locations around Edinburgh.