No Mela in Gunnersbury Park This Year

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Festival is being taken from Ealing and Hounslow councils and handed to a new trust

The popular London Mela which has taken place in Gunnersbury Park for the last thirteen years will not be happening this summer.

The organisers, Remarkable Productions, are setting up a new trust independent from Ealing and Hounslow Councils. The trust is aiming to bring the Mela back to Gunnersbury Park in 2017 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence.

The new trust will work with public funders, commercial partners and the wider public to develop funding, sponsorship and ticket sales strategies to be able to fill the gap left by the reduction in funding from local authorities.

The programme is being supported by the Greater London Authority and Arts Council England and will launch in the summer with a few key events, with many more planned for 2017 and beyond.

Councillor Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council, said: "We appreciate how popular the mela has been and that its success has been internationally recognised. It will take on a different approach this year, while Remarkable explore how the mela can be improved and become self-funding before bringing it back next year."

Julian Rudd, director of Remarkable Productions, said: “The London Mela is in the process of development and reinvention as it marches towards trust status and financial independence. It is right that we have a fallow year in 2016 in order to get that right. We are aiming to celebrate the birth of the new independent London Mela Trust in 2017, on the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, with the greatest London Mela yet.”

 

 

19th March 2016