National Multicultural Festival
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| National Multicultural Festival | |
|---|---|
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| Date | February |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Locations | Canberra, Australia |
| Inaugurated | 1981 |
| Attendance | 260,000 (2013 estimated)[1][2] |
| Website | multiculturalfestival |
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The National Multicultural Festival, also known as Multiculti or MultiCulti,[3][4][5] is a free community festival held annually each February in Canberra, Australia.
The first festival celebrating cultural diversity was held in 1981 as a one-day event on Australia Day hosted by the ACT Ethnic Communities Council.
In 1996 the National Multicultural Festival in Canberra officially came into being. It began as a nod to the Capital's expanding cityscape, populated by young families with links across the globe, and blossomed throughout the 1990s and early 2000s to an event reflecting the more than 170 unique nationalities that comprise our population. The festival has become one of the most successful multicultural festivals in Australia. The festival is held over three days during February each year.
The Festival is supported by the ACT Government and is administered by the Community Participation Group, Multicultural Affairs, a division of the ACT Government Community Services Directorate.
COVID-19 impact
In 1981, the ACT Ethnic Communities Council held the first festival celebrating cultural diversity, a one-day event in Civic to celebrate Australia Day.[6][7][8] By 1988, the festival had grown to host about 40 international food stalls, music and dancing.[9] That year it was held in the Civic end of Ainslie Avenue, and along London Circuit in front of Civic Square, and also included a parade led by Chinese lion dancers.[10]
In 1997, the newly established ACT Office of Multicultural Affairs staged the first week-long Festival as a means of celebrating Canberra and Australia's cultural diversity.[citation needed] In 2010, the Festival became a three-day event and remains that duration.[11]
In 2012, the festival hosted a record 350 stalls.[12] The 2012 festival was also the first to allow cultural kava use, as a trial.[13] The ACT Government announced in 2013 that the kava trial had been a success and there would be a permanent lifting of the ban on the drink at the National Multicultural Festival.[14]
The Out In Canberra People's Choice Awards in 2013 named the National Multicultural Festival Favourite Attraction and Event.[15]
Weather at the festival is usually hot and dry,[16] with organisers handing out 18,000 bottles of water to patrons at the 2014 festival.[17]
The festival has grown over time to become one of the most successful multicultural festivals in Australia.[18] The 2014 event reportedly injected $5 million into the ACT economy and contributed to an additional 10,000 overnight stays in Canberra by interstate and international visitors.[19]
In November 2020, the 2021 Festival was postponed from its usual February dates to "... by late 2021" due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[20] In early 2021 the Festival for that year was cancelled entirely. It was then planned for the next event to be held on 18–20 February 2022, its 25th anniversary.[21] However, the team planning the festival, which usually takes ten months to do so, was diverted for three months to the ACT's COVID-19 response, and consequently in November 2021 the 2022 festival was also cancelled, and deferred to February 2023.[22]