ACE Dance and Music, in partnership with Black Voices, presented a Doorstep Carnival at GRS on the August Bank Holiday Saturday 2023.  This was the second event of its kind to be delivered at the venue.  The first one was held as part of our offering for the B2022 Cultural Festival to celebrate the Commonwealth Games taking place in Birmingham.  At the time, we were inundated with numerous requests from members of the local Birchfield community for another Doorstep Carnival.  We felt that it was important to acknowledge the wishes of the community so that we could establish the Doorstep Carnival as a lasting legacy from the Commonwealth Games.  

In the spring and summer of 2023, Black Voices were involved in a major Windrush 75 project in partnership with the National Memorial Arboretum.  This included the collation of archival material, videos, vox pops and photographs, and an invitation to local Windrush Elders to attend a special concert at the NMA to acknowledge and celebrate the legacy of their experiences.  Both Black Voices and ACEDM were keen to use this year’s Doorstep Carnival as an opportunity to celebrate our Windrush Pioneers and so our promotional work in advance of the day was themed around a celebration of Windrush. We were also able to use elements of the work with the National Memorial Arboretum at the Doorstep Carnival.