Joy Burch is putting her Minister’s hat back on to announce the headline acts for next year’s Multicultural Festival:
Acclaimed Indigenous singer Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Australian singer Kate Ceberano will head up the entertainment at the 2013 National Multicultural Festival, ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch announced today.
Ms Burch said the two big names [...]

The Folk Festival is a strange beast for a few reasons:
– It relies on vast armies of volunteers working for free (often in highly professional capacities).
– It charges like a wounded bull. Seriously it hoovers money out of my wallet harder than any casino I’ve visited.
– It pays the most cursory to negligible [...]

Official reports are that there were 260,000 people at the Multicultural Festival yesterday for the “food and dance spectacular” more affectionately referred to as “beer and meat on a stick day”.
To the delight of the crowd “chips on a stick” made its debut and indeed I thoroughly enjoyed to Lithuanian innovation of a pickle on [...]

Radio Australia have word that the Chief Minister has now granted a three day exemption for the traditional use of kava at the Multicultural Festival:
But authorities have had a change of heart, and a trial exemption began at midnight.
The Chief Health Officer of the ACT, Dr Paul Kelly, has told Radio Australia he doesn’t [...]

Joy Burch’s office has sent out a detailed map and schedule for the Multicultural Festival starting tomorrow.
Bon Appetit!

Territory and Municipal Services are giving notice of the roads they’re closing for the Multicultural Festival:
The ACT Government wishes to advise motorists and other road users that the following roads will be closed from 6 am on Friday 10 February 2012 to 8 pm on Sunday 12 February 2012:
• London Circuit between Constitution Avenue and [...]

In case you’ve been living under a rock or rarely frequent Civic the 2012 National Multicultural Festival is happening this weekend.
To that end we had a media launch on Petrie Plaza this lunchtime, again bemusing passersby, but with dancers to delight.
There’s a full schedule online but the beating heart known to true Canberrans as Beer [...]

The ABC has been worded up that kava has been banned from this year’s Multicultural Festival after the Thereapeutic Goods Administration rejected an application for an exemption.
Because too much multiculturalism would be a terrible thing at a multicultural festival.

Multicultural Minister Joy Burch is asking the public to put their hands up to help out on a voluntary basis at the Multicultural Festival, (aka Beer And Meat On A Stick Day or BAMOASD in these parts):
“Being involved in the Festival gives volunteers a direct role in its staging with event day positions including stage [...]

[ 10 February, 2012 to 12 February, 2012. ]

The Multicultural Festival (beer and meat on a stick to the likes of you and me) has been nailed down in 2012 for 10-12 February.

One weekend you don’t want to be down the coast.

The Canberra Multicultural Community Forum is delighted that the ACT Government has decided to invest an additional $200,000 into the 2012 and 2013 National Multicultural Festivals, Chair Sam Wong said today.
“The money will be used to increase the ‘footprint’ of the Festival, allowing it to expand into adjacent areas of Civic. Anyone who was present [...]

In The City Canberra have an exceedingly carefully worded statement up about plans to discuss the scope of the Multicultural Festival with the Government:
Some businesses did not anticipate the larger scale of this year’s festival and expressed an interest in meeting with Government to discuss plans for 2012 and new issues that may have arisen. [...]

The Greens Amanda Bresnan is calling for leadership following the alarming Challenging Racism report results this morning:
“Rather than promoting understanding, politicians have instead recently tabled an anti-Muslim petition, made insensitive remarks about refugees attending the funeral of people killed near Christmas Island and insulted traditional Islamic Halal food preparation.
“The use of asylum seekers [...]

The Canberra Times has a piece on some hurt feelings in the Pacific Islander Community after their drop of choice, kava, was banned from the Multicultural Festival:
Tongan community leader Siosiua Lafitani Tofua’ipangai said it was discriminatory for authorities to permit the sale and consumption of alcohol at events such as the festival but not [...]

With a crowd estimated around 240,000 for the three day event, ACT Policing is praising the majority of people who attended the Multicultural Festival, with only three people taken into custody during the celebrations.
Sergeant John Foster from the Alcohol Crime Targeting Team (ACTT) said earlier work undertaken by his team to inform the ‘off site [...]

The Multicutural Festival held over the weekend can only be described as a raging success with some estimates that there were over 100,000 people in Civic on Saturday.
But has it grown too big?
The crowds were packed in pretty tight, if something had caused a panic (and with all that fire, booze, and people this is [...]

If you were one of the thousands of people taking photos at the Multicultural Festival over the weekend why not show them to the world?
Just email them in to images@the-riotact.com .

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Australia and the Taiwanese Association of Canberra, Australia (TACA) have jointly organised three events to take part in the  ACT National Multicultural Festival 2011, including the “Retracing Our Steps” photo exhibition, Calligraphy and Paper Cutting and Taiwanese Food Stall.
 1)   “Retracing Our Steps”: A Photo Journey through 100 [...]

Thanks to Skidbladnir for sending this one in.
From the Multicultural Festival website, when viewed at 1280×1024.
Does it do it at any other screen resolutions?

[ 11 February, 2011 to 13 February, 2011. ]

Garema Place is filling up with marquees for the 2011 Multicultural Festival and at noon today the launch was held with Minister for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch and the obligatory display of drums and dancers.

A Jessica Mauboy performance had been promised but did not eventuate.

A highlight was the nutty old woman abusing yours truly for [...]

Joy Burch as Minister for Multicultural Affairs is letting us know that Canberra’s going to get an extra dose of Jessica Mauboy who’s now the Face of the Festival, the Multicultural Festival that is.
There are also new events and Beer and Meat On A Stick Day is being extended to a three day event which [...]

In The City Canberra is hosting a call for volunteers for the 2011 Multicultural Festival.
Organisers of the much-loved Multicultural Festival are again looking for a team of eager volunteers to help keep the event running smoothly for this year. Bodies are needed for a variety of roles and they aim to match people with [...]

The Canberra Multicultural Community Forum does not support the significant changes to the National Multicultural Festival recommended in the Loxton Report, CMCF Chair Sam Wong said today.
“While there are some positive elements to the report, we do not accept that the Festival should be moved to later in the year to become a feature of [...]

Having just received an email regarding participation in the 2010 Multi-cultural Food & Dance Spectacle I wonder what affect stall hire charges will have on the event and revenue for community groups.
Will food be more expensive and a lot less stalls?
I can understand the organisers wanting to recoup expenses for the setup but wonder if [...]

The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan, triumphant in State of Origin rivalry, is thrilled that the always controversial Multicultural Festival is to be freed from John Hargreaves idea of fun:
ACT Greens Multicultural Affairs Spokesperson, Amanda Bresnan MLA has welcomed the Government’s announcement to develop a formal monitoring and evaluation process for the Multicultural Festival…
“But the current arrangement, [...]

I went into the city around noon on Saturday for the Multicultural Food and Dance Spectacular. I was only going to stay for a couple of hours but ended up staying there until past midnight.
 
I have been to a few of these events over the years but I think it was by far the best [...]