Global Village Green Spaces

Summer 2021-2022

Essex Cultural Diversity Project presented a series of Global Village events across the county, to capture the festival feeling, celebrate diversity and engage communities across Essex in the county’s parks and green spaces.

The project was supported by Arts Council England, with match funding from Essex County Council and Active Essex. This allowed us to build on our Global Village brand, as well as Caravanserai and other festival projects over the last ten years, bringing bespoke performances, workshops and activities to outdoors spaces across the county.

A series of satellite events warmed up audiences throughout the year, and included Global Village Lite at Cressing Temple Barns in August 2021, and fun community led workshops during half term in May 2022 at Hadleigh, Danbury, Weald and Cudmore Grove Country Parks. The project culminated in a grand Global Village Finale at Hadleigh Country Park in July 2022.

Programme highlights:

Global Village at Hadleigh Country Park

In Summer 2022, Essex Cultural Diversity Project presented a programme of festival events to bring communities together and connect with local green spaces. This programme culminated in a free finale event at Hadleigh Park that showcased performance, interactive workshops and demos, featuring a range of artists from near and afar. Highlights include The Maharaja Brass Band and Circus Raj from Rajasthan India, Usifu Jalloh from Sierra Leone, Bollywood dancing with ABC Bollwood, performances by BrazilArte, Colchester Chinese Cultural Society, and colourful Kinetika flags. The event was also promoted as part of the Festival of East Anglia & Punjab across Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk 1-10 July 2022

Global Village Satellite Events

As part of the Global Village Green Spaces project, a series of satellite events warmed up audiences throughout the year, and included Global Village Lite at Cressing Temple Barns in August 2021, and community led half term workshops in May 2022. The programme involved arts and community organisations including BrazilArte working with Brazilian and Portuguese communities at Hadleigh Country Park, Efua Sey Cultural Academy working with Afro Caribbean communities at Weald Country Park, Essex Multicultural Activities Network working with Muslim Pakistani and Indian Hindu Communities at Danbury Country Park, and Colchester Chinese Culture Society working with the Chinese community at Cudmore Grove Country Park.

Global Village at Streets Alive

Global Village also took place on Chelmsford High Street, as part of Streets Alive. There were performances and appearances by Raj Circus from Rajasthan, India with large puppets and stilt walkers; African storytelling with Usifu Jalloh from Sierra Leone; Bollywood Dancing with ABCD Bollywood Dancing School; Brazilian Capoeira and Samba with BrazilArte; and Henna Hand painting. The event was also promoted as part of the Festival of East Anglia & Punjab across Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk 1-10 July 2022

We’d like to thank Arts Council England alongside key partners Active Essex and Essex County Councils’ Culture, Heritage, Tourism & Green Spaces Environment and Climate Change Action departments.