Help Bloco Dandara Level Up for Carnival 2026

Aim

Raising £3000 to level up our community group.

Last summer, Bloco Dandara brought a 35-piece band onto the streets of Govanhill. This year, we're building something even bigger — and we need your help to make it happen.

We're raising £3,000 to fund our 2026 carnival parade: the outdoor equipment we need to perform as a full band, the kit to make the parade look the part, assist us with some of our core costs in this period of growth.

Who we are

Bloco Dandara is a community bloco rooted in Brazilian carnival traditions. We bring people together to learn percussion, rehearse as a group, and perform — in streets, festivals and public spaces. No auditions, no prior experience required.

What makes us different in Scotland is the combination: large-scale Brazilian percussion alongside a full live band — guitars, bass and vocals — playing music that spans cultures and generations, from BaianaSystem and Jorge Ben Jor to Sharon Jones and Nirvana, all built on Brazilian rhythms.

Since founding in 2024, over 200 people have played drums with us, many for the very first time.

"It has changed my life." Bloco Member
"Even after 6 weeks I can tell you, I feel more confident." Govanhill Carnival 2025 participant

The 2026 Govanhill Carnival

We're offering a free 10-week drumming course for anyone who wants to be part of this year's parade. Over ten Tuesday sessions, participants build the rhythms, energy and confidence to take to the streets together — whether they've never touched a drum before or they've played with us previously.

The £3,000 we raise goes directly into making this all possible:

Outdoor performance equipment — to bring the full band to the streets, now and for future events.

Venue and storage costs 

Carnival production — All the little things that pull the visual spectacle together and make us look and feel like a band! 

Core operating costs — the unglamorous stuff that keeps it all moving.

This project is supported by our partners Contemporanea Musical, MusicBroth and it's made free to attend by Govanhill Community Baths Trust.

How your support helped us last time.

In early 2025 we ran our first crowdfunding campaign and raised £1500, which was matched by Creative Scotland. With an additional £1000 raised from hosting two live gigs. We had raised more money than we thought and had a plan of action to make this project grow and become a sustainable operation.

However, our rehearsal venue closed unexpectedly where we were also storing equipment. This situation has only just about resolved itself now as finding venues for cultural programmes that are loud is notoriously difficult.
We adapted and stretched that money across ten months instead of the planned six — covering high venue costs for moving around, storage,as well as covering the extra costs associated with putting on last year's carnival performance.

In September 2025 we launched memberships for our community to support us and keep some sort of work on-going. These memberships mantain our core principle of being financially accessible with there being three price points depending on what you can afford.
Now some of our members have stepped up and have formed a volunteer committee to give back to the project help ensure it grows to a sustainable place in the coming months.

Rewards

Many of our rewards are not typical things where you get something in return, and are more an opportunity for us to share what some of the costs are

🥁 £15 — Sign up for an exclusive percussion workshop in September. 

🥁 £35 — Buy us a pack of earplugs. We love this music. We also love our hearing.

🥁 £80 — Sponsor a carnival performer. The 10-week course is free for participants, but it isn't free to run. This covers what it costs to bring one person from their first session to the street at a concession rate (if we were charging)

🥁 £100 — Buy us a drum. Instruments take a beating and need TLC, and occasionally we buy new drums.

🥁 £250 — Become a Bloco Dandara Sponsor. Your name on our 2026 carnival float.

This project successfully funded on 26th June 2026