AN ARTS charity is launching a fundraising campaign to pay for its appearance at the Nottingham Caribbean Carnival.
City Arts needs to raise money from the public for the first time due to funding cuts in the arts sector.
The group needs to raise £2,000 and will launch the funding drive tomorrow on its website, www.city-arts.org.uk.
Creative programme officer Alison Denholm said: "Six or seven donations a day of £10 will get us to our target.
"There is increasingly less and less money to get projects like this off the ground."
People who donate £10 will get an e-mailed copy of a carnival photo album, while those who donate £50 will get an album in the post as well as an invite to the City Arts Mas Camp Weekend to help create the carnival king costume for the parade.
This year, the City Arts troupe's theme will be water and recycling and the subject will be reflected in the costumes, float and dance routines.
Sarena Kay, 35, who has helped with costume-making and dance routines for the City Arts float for seven years, said: "The thing that I love about the carnival is that it's an art form that's for everybody. Whether you're an artist or not, everyone can get involved."
Each troupe keeps its plans close to its chest, but Sarena revealed some of the details of this year's theme.
She said: "It's about the rubbish that's going into the sea, and thinking about all the people on the planet that don't have water. It's not just some glitter and baubles; it has a passion that should speak through everyone."
The carnival will transform The Forest recreation ground on the weekend of August 17 and 18, and Saturday's big parade will take a route through the city centre, arriving at the Forest at 4pm.
Caribbean Carnival organiser Richard Renwick said: "The parade is the heart of the carnival; it's really what people come to see. It involves a lot of young people."
Money raised will be used to fund a number of aspects of this year's troupe, including a collaboration with Nottingham street theatre group The Scraggies and commissioning local artist Nathan Bainbridge to design the float.
The charity receives the bulk of its funding from Arts Council England and Nottingham City Council, as well as raising money from other trusts and foundations.