News location:

Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / Festival program launched in colour

Polish dancers at Petrie Plaza

SURROUNDED by colourfully-clad dancers and volunteers, ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs Chris Steel officially launched the 2019 National Multicultural Festival this morning (Friday, February 8) in Petrie Plaza.

After performances by Pacific Islanders from the “United Nesian Movement” and a young Polish dance group, the hungry crowd descended on an outdoor banquet provided by the Pacific Islander Showcase Association.

Tahitian dancer Vaihiria Auti this morning (2)

“This is just a taste of the huge line-up of hundreds of food stalls and performances on this year’s festival program,” Minister Steel said, adding he expected “tens of thousands of people” to converge on Civic over the three day event.

The happy minister also promised ACT government funding of $2 million over three years to ensure the event continues to be part of the city’s event calendar.

“As well as funding permanent staffing for the festival the funding will allow us to make improvements to the operations of the festival in the lead up to its 25 year anniversary in 2021,” Minister Steel said.

Festival stallholders will be able to begin cooking at noon on Friday, February 15.

And this year community groups, he said, would be will be selling “culturally relevant alcohol” while commercial operators will only be selling locally brewed alcoholic beverages.

A highlight of this year’s program will be the three headline acts – performer Christine Anu, chef Mark Olive and Eurovision contestant Isaiah Firebrace.

2019 National Multicultural Festival, Civic, February 15-17, full program at multiculturalfestival.com.au and Late Night Rapid bus service timetables for Friday and Saturday nights at transport.act.gov.au

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Helen Musa

Helen Musa

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews