Groups accept festival grants

LODDON Campaspe Multicultural Services has welcomed an $18,000 grant from the latest round of the Victorian Regional Multicultural Festivals and Events Fund for its Zinda 2025: Blooming under the Harvest Moon Festival.

First held in 2018, Zinda Festival is an annual event that brings together live music, dance, global cuisines, art, food stalls and children’s activities to celebrate the region’s growing diversity.

This year’s festival will again be held at the Garden for the Future in White Hills.

More than 100 organisations will share in over $780,000 in funding to deliver multicultural festivals and events across metropolitan and regional Victoria from July to September.

The fund supports communities to celebrate culture and heritage in meaningful ways, while sharing the richness of Victoria’s multicultural identity with the broader public.

This round enables events representing more than 40 ethnicities and 60 faith groups.

Since 2014, the State Government has invested more than $42 million to support close to 10,000 multicultural festivals and events across Victoria.

Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ingrid Stitt said such events are a vital part of what makes Victoria so unique, bringing people together to share culture, strengthen community and celebrate who we are.

“The Regional Multicultural Festivals and Events program recognises the contribution multicultural communities make to Victoria’s identity and helps keep traditions alive,” she said.

Bendigo Australia Indonesia Klub also received $4750 for its 80th Independence Day of Indonesia celebrations and the Indian Association of Bendigo received $9000 for 2025 Navratri Garba.