our history
Butetown Arts & Culture Association
Butetown in Cardiff was one of the UK’s first multicultural communities with people from over 50 different countries settling in the first part of the 20th Century, working in the docks and associated industries.
Following the resurrection of Butetown Carnival in 2014 after a 16-year absence, Butetown Arts & Culture Association (BACA) was formed in 2015 to promote, celebrate and sustain the diverse social, cultural and artistic heritage of Butetown, Cardiff.
BACA is led by local people with a longstanding history of involvement in the production and delivery of cultural events and activities in and around Butetown and further afield. BACA has worked in partnership with other community members and organisations to produce and promote diverse cultural events and activities including Butetown Carnival.
Due to the pandemic, the carnival in 2020 adapted to provide an online channel and scaled-down public performances, showcasing the creativity of the costume makers.
colourful bold & never too old
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carnival 2024
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The Butetown Carnival traces its roots to a community Mardi Gras launched in the mid-1960s. In 1967, Cardiff politicians and community leaders organised what was then called the Butetown Mardi Gras, billed as an “International Caribbean Carnival,” as a goodwill event for the “poor people of Butetown” amid a period…
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By the 1970s, Butetown’s youth carried the carnival spirit forward by joining Cardiff’s annual Lord Mayor’s Parade with Caribbean-themed floats. During one parade in the mid-70s, onlookers subjected the Butetown Youth Club to racist jeers – an incident that led to an altercation. Instead of disciplining the harassers, officials banned…
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https://butetowncarnival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/0309-1.mp4 1977 marks the first official Butetown Carnival – the year the community’s carnival became an annual fixture. The Carnival was enshrined as a highlight of Cardiff’s cultural calendar from this year onward. Organised by local youth leaders and community groups (often centred around the Butetown Youth Club and Community…
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During the 1980s, Cardiff’s Tiger Bay (Butetown) came alive each summer in an explosion of music, colour, and community spirit. The Butetown Carnival transformed local streets into a jubilant festival ground that drew crowds from across the city – and beyond – to celebrate multicultural Cardiff. In its heyday,…
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Butetown Carnival drew large crowds in the early 1990s, even as funding began to dry up (1992 scene pictured). In the early 1990s, Cardiff’s iconic Butetown Carnival, which had once rivalled Notting Hill in scale, drawing tens of thousands in its heyday, began to falter due to chronic funding shortages.…
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After a 16-year hiatus, Butetown Carnival was finally revived in 2014 to joyous response. Community organizers – many of whom had experienced the Carnival’s heyday – decided it was time to “just do it and not wait for yet another year” . On August Bank Holiday Monday 2014, Butetown Carnival…
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2023 witnessed the Butetown Carnival in full bloom once again, with an enriched program that honored its legacy while celebrating the present. Supported by major partners including the Arts Council of Wales, the Senedd, Welsh Government, and the Wales Millennium Centre, the Carnival over the August 2023 bank holiday was…
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The 2024 Butetown Carnival (25–26 August) was a free, family-friendly festival celebrating Cardiff’s historic Tiger Bay community. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, the streets and waterfront of Cardiff Bay exploded “with colour, energy, and joyful celebration”. Thousands of visitors enjoyed parades, music stages, dance performances, workshops and food stalls…
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Blog Posts
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Roots & Rise: The Early Years of Butetown Carnival (1967–1989)
Butetown Carnival wasn’t born in a boardroom. It was forged in the streets – through resistance, rhythm, and community pride. In 1967, Cardiff’s Butetown district hosted the Butetown Mardi Gras, a small Caribbean-themed celebration. Though modest in size, it marked the
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Carnival Cabaret: Positive Vibrations – A Night of Culture and Community
📅 Date: March 7, 2025 📍 Location: Cabaret Space, Wales Millennium Centre 🎟 Tickets: Pay What You Can (£2, £5, or £8) Feel the Rhythm, Energy, and Positive Vibrations The Carnival Cabaret: Positive Vibrations is set to be an unmissable night of music, culture, and celebration at the Wales Millennium Centre. This uplifting
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The Fall, The Hiatus, and The Comeback (1990–2014)
🛑 Butetown Carnival: The Silent Years (1990–2014) After the Highs Came a Pause The Butetown Carnival of the 1980s was a cultural force—25,000 people filled the streets each year, and big-name acts like Bo Diddley and Aswad brought global sounds to local
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BUTETOWN CARNIVAL: THE REVIVAL YEARS (2014–2019)
🔥 Butetown Carnival: The Revival Years (2014–2019) Bringing the Carnival Home Again After 16 years of silence, the streets of Butetown came alive once more in 2014. What started as a modest community gathering would blossom over the next five years into
