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Seafarers Festival bigger and better than ever!

It was a case of anchors aweigh for the organisers of this year’s Seafarers Multi-cultural Festival with the announcement by Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull that they have been successful in receiving $20,000 via the Coalition Government’s Unity Through Partnerships program.

"It was a pleasure, along with mayor Dick Ellis, to catch up with event organiser Rosemary Kavadis to congratulate her and members of the organising committee on their successful application and discuss plans they have for this year's program.

"I know that the funding will go a long way to supporting this important regional event and both the Mayor and I recognise the great efforts of the local organising group," said Mr Bull.

“Events such as the Seafarers Multi-cultural Festival are essential in encouraging the whole community to celebrate and value cultural diversity and help foster cross-cultural exchanges and collaboration.

“Each year the Festival grows from strength to strength and once again the Committee has secured another high profile celebrity to help promote the event, with Paul Mercurio being announced this year’s Event Ambassador.

"The Festival is a celebration of our regional and indigenous culture and a platform to showcase the fantastic food and wine on offer in East Gippsland.  It is now considered one of the key dates on the annual events calendar.”

Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Nicholas Kotsiras, acknowledged the Organising Committee for its efforts in encouraging Victoria’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities to retain and express their social identity and cultural heritage.

“The Government believes that unity can be achieved by sharing our differences and learning about other cultural traditions through community celebrations and festivals such as this”.