Cabasa Carnival Arts

Cabasa Carnival Arts Cabasa is a women-led Carnival arts organisation with a focus on traditional textile craft and powerful storytelling.

We create stunning hand-crafted textiles, Carnival costume, large-scale sculpture, body art, and murals that are deeply meaningful. Cabasa is a carnival arts organisation which brings all people together to create big, bold and beautiful outdoor events that capture the joy of being part of a community. Cabasa uses arts and creativity to enable people to learn new skills, develop high-quality work

they feel proud of, bring communities together and explore diverse community traditions. We want to see a world in which everyone has access to creative opportunities through Carnival. Based in Tameside (UK), Cabasa has been delivering high-quality Carnival creations in the North-West and beyond for the past 10 years.

WhatsAppppp?!We always have volunteering opportunities over the year, so if you’d like to be in the know, why not join o...
18/06/2026

WhatsAppppp?!

We always have volunteering opportunities over the year, so if you’d like to be in the know, why not join our Volunteer WhatsApp community?

We never send spam, just opportunities and project updates.

Carnival can’t happen without many hands, so if you’d like to do some creative volunteering we’d love to have you here with us at The Vale here in Mossley. Jobs can include wax Batik, dyeing fabric, costume embellishment, painting, embroidery and more!

If you’re not into WhatsApp, you can sign up to our mailing list instead.

WhatsApp: chat.whatsapp.com/IBH7i26TxYZE2xuPkzijbk?
Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/dH8jtf

📸 Bankole Oluwafemi

We are so excited to announce our Unheard Stories exhibition this July at Stalybridge Civic Hall!Unheard Stories: The Ex...
11/06/2026

We are so excited to announce our Unheard Stories exhibition this July at Stalybridge Civic Hall!

Unheard Stories: The Exhibition

🗓 Friday 3rd July: 10am - 5pm
🗓 Saturday 4th July: 11am - 4pm
📍Stalybridge Civic Hall, Trinity Street, Stalybridge, SK15 2BN
🎟 Free entry

___

Through body art portraits, textiles, sculpture, photography, audio stories, poetry, and film, this large-scale exhibition shares lived experiences of endometriosis, pregnancy, and access to reproductive healthcare.

Over the past six years, Cabasa has worked with hundreds of women and people across Greater Manchester. Now, we invite you to hear their stories and celebrate the people who have shaped this work.

The exhibition will include images from both our Endomorphosis groups, pregnancy and postnatal body painting, audio stories, written experiences, textile work, and a large batik dress created for our Living Dress sculpture, carrying women’s stories of accessing reproductive healthcare.

We hope to see you there!

The National Lottery Heritage Fund Arts Council England Postcode Lottery UK The Vale

We’re delighted to announce we’ve received ongoing funding from Postcode Neighbourhood Trust! Over the next 3 years this...
02/06/2026

We’re delighted to announce we’ve received ongoing funding from Postcode Neighbourhood Trust! Over the next 3 years this funding will go towards supporting our core work to bring events, workshops, and ongoing projects to life which amplify often unheard voices in the community, enabling more women to take part, share their stories, and feel connected through Carnival art.

This Funding awarded by Postcode Lottery UK and raised by Postcode Lottery players (thank you!)

Image: Andrew Hayhurst

29/05/2026

Happy Whit Friday! It was fabulous to unveil this new community banner we made for Mossley Heritage Centre and Mossley Town Council at this new wonderful Whit Friday celebration event at Seel Park in Mossley today! It was great to bring their vision to life.

So many hands went into the making of this, and into the future it will be added to by many more hands.

Design by Lizzie Rigby and Kate Rothery.
Martha Webster worked with lots and lots of children from Micklehurst School as well as Crafty Saturdays here at The Vale to make fabric for the edges and letters.
Hand painted and batiked by artists Nina Smith, Kate Rothery, Mary O’Neill, and Emily Wood as well lots of wonderful Cabasa volunteerswho gave their time.
The amazing Dyllis from Mossley Heritage Centre came and waxed the banner with us too!
Applique by Wednesday craft group at The Vale.
Sewn by Helen Plaumer
Poles made by Gordon Banks

We can’t wait to see the journey the banner will go on next.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

28/05/2026

This Saturday 30th May we’ll be at Festival Oldham bringing our fun, colourful celebration of nature with flora and forna inspired costumes, drummers and lovely puppet Sofiya. Another GG X Cabasa Collab.

The sun will be shining and we’ll be filling Oldham with vibrant summer Carnival vibes. We’ll be doing 3 mini parades in the town Centre at 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm.

We love Festival Oldham, there’s loads going on over the day 🌞

Find out more at: https://hla.oldham.gov.uk/festival-oldham/

I love Oldham

25/05/2026

Tameside Council Library Services joined libraries across Greater Manchester in hosting workshops, in collaboration with the local community and Cabasa Carnival Arts, as part of Green Libraries Week last year.

Participants created ten, three-meter silk flags, each focusing on a different environmental theme, helping audiences consider the impact of climate change and why protecting nature is important for our planet.

Each local authority contributed one flag to the collection, with Tameside’s theme being fungi, and other themes including rivers, solar power, and pollinators.

The flags will then be on a month-long display at Ashton Library (26 May-20 June). The flags will then continue to spread their environmental message as part of a touring exhibition across Greater Manchester throughout 2026 and will feature at the Manchester Day parade in July.

Funded by Libraries Connected Northwest, the project was led by the Greater Manchester Green Libraries Consortium, a dedicated working group focused on sustainability in libraries. They meet regularly to explore ways to make library services greener and to help the public engage with environmental issues.

Tameside Council’s Strategic Director of Housing, Environment & Estates, Julian Jackson said: “This is an excellent project bringing together creativity and community collaboration to raise awareness of important issues such as climate change and protecting our environment.

“It’s wonderful to see everyone’s involvement as the project and exhibition comes to life.”

For more information contact [email protected] or call 0161 342 4000

Address

The Vale, Micklehurst Road
Mossley
OL59JL

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cabasa Carnival Arts posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share