Magna carnival event postponed

MAGNA’S planned two-week carnival arts event has been called off.

The Advertiser heard from Rotherham arts contacts this week that the South Yorkshire Carnival Arts Regional Festival earmarked to begin on July 15 had been axed and discovered that its Twitter account, Facebook page and website were all out of date or inactive.

And after repeatedly attempting to contact Magna for comment, the Advertiser eventually received confirmation that the Caribbean-themed festival, for which plans were revealed in December, was being postponed until next year.

Magna Trust chief executive John Silker said: “We are excited about putting on this ambitious festival, but on reflection we have decided to postpone it until 2017 to give us more time to prepare and to deliver the event.

“We became aware that we were cutting it fine to access funding and support from places like the Arts Council and the advice has been to postpone the event until next year.

“We realise this is disappointing news, but we want to get it right.

“We continue to put on, and host, a wide variety of events at Magna and our events bookings continue to be healthy, with income from bookings expected to exceed £1.2 million this year.”

An unrelated carnival dubbed the People’s Parade, being hosted by Rotherham arts groups on September 24, is still set to go ahead.

For more information email parade organiser Vicky Hilton at Open Minds Theatre Company, on [email protected].