Canberra will go without its popular Multicultural Festival for yet another year. The Festival will be postponed to 2023, due to planning difficulties after COVID, announced Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs, today.

2023 will mark the Festival’s 25^th anniversary, and by rescheduling the Festival, Ms Cheyne promised, it will be on a scale the silver anniversary deserved.

By that time, the Festival will have been held last in 2020.

“The Festival is a much-loved, valued and anticipated community event each year, and I understand that many across our city, particularly our linguistically and culturally diverse communities, will be disappointed by today’s announcement,” Ms Cheyne said.

Planning for the 2022 Festival – a COVID-safe, community-led event – was well underway before the recent COVID-19 outbreak, Ms Cheyne said.

“Given the lead time it takes to deliver such a large-scale event, alongside the redeployment of staff to support the ACT’s multicultural community through the COVID-19 outbreak, planning and implementing a 2022 festival ultimately became unfeasible,” Ms Cheyne said.

In the meantime, the $400,000 allocated to next year’s Festival in the 2021–22 Budget will be provided to Events ACT so multicultural organisations can take part in other events, Ms Cheyne said.

Australia Day and Canberra Day will provide the first opportunities next year for multicultural groups to showcase their culture and food.

The ACT Government will work with Canberra’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities on these opportunities in the coming weeks, Ms Cheyne said. Multicultural community organisations interested in participating can register their interest.

“While the Festival will not take place next year, we are committed to supporting and celebrating our community’s diversity,” Ms Cheyne said.

Canberra Liberals MLA Giulia Jones, Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, said: “The city will miss the event, but I hope and expect it will be back stronger in 2023.

“I will keep onto the government and the minister to find alternative opportunities for the communities to be able to be a part of our city’s public events and celebrations.

“We recognise that events must be COVID safe. We live in great hope for a bigger and better event in 2023.”

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