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Canberra Today 15°/18° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Ceberano to be the ‘face’ of the Multicultural Festival

AUSTRALIAN singer Kate Ceberano will be the be the official “face” of the 2013 National Multicultural Festival, it was announced at a crowded public launch today by ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch.

Ceberano will join Indigenous singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu in heading up the entertainment at the weekend festival, to run from February 8 to 10 next year.

Ms Burch promised that the family event would go off with “a good bit of a zing” claiming that of 360,000 Canberrans, 260,000 had attended the event early this year, where there were a massive 300 stalls.

Describing it as “the biggest and most joyous celebration here in Canberra,” she explained that this year’s event and particularly the Indigenous showcase would be supported by the Centenary of Canberra and the ACT NAIDOC Week Committee.

As children dressed in colourful national costume jostled for a chance to see what was going on, the minister described Ceberano as “truly a special Australian.”

Her praise seemed to contradict complaints aired to “CityNews” last week by an organiser of the Multicultural Festival against Robyn Archer for deliberately side-lining local Canberrans in her handling of the centenary – for talented as Ceberano might be, she is certainly not a Canberran.

Entertainers, including the Chilean composer and songstress Francisca Valenzuela and a group of samba dancers, gave the crowd a small insight in what was to come in February, which has been envisaged by the organisers as a gourmet feast with a tag, “take a bite out of the 2013 centenary National Multicultural Festival,” complete with appetisers, entrees, mains and desserts.

To give you an idea, the Interfaith Forum and the Stiff Gins come under appetisers, while the Greek Glendi, Chinese New Year and India in the City come under mains, while Yunupingu is on the dessert menu.

The main thrust of the gathering was to unveil a lengthy new documentary, “graciously produced” (“CityNews” understands that this means gratis) for the ACT Government by independent Melbourne-based music and digital media company GoConnect.

CEO of GoConnect, Richard Li, said the video, accessible at www.multiculturalfestival.com.au, would show Canberra and the 2012 Multicultural Festival in the light of being “a symbol of the success of multiculturalism” and would be seen by 93 million people around the world, not least in China and Mongolia.

So long was the video, that had to be cut short for the entertainment. Headed by Labor politicians like Ms. Burch and Senator Kate Lundy touting the joys of multiculturalism, it contains interviews with leading multicultural figures in Canberra like Office of Multicultural Affairs chief Nick Manikis and multicultural leader Sam Wong, giving their slant on the history of the festival. Interspersed were interviews with stallholders and members of the local community.

In short, while the “degustation menu” on a printed program gave promise of many tasty treats, the clunky video may prove less digestible. But you won’t know, as the festival’s copywriters are saying, until you “tuck in.”

 ‘Face’ of 2013 National Multicultural Festival announcement

 

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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