Festival To Focus On Cowra’s Cultural Diversity

The 2022 Cowra Festival of International Understanding was officially launched at the Cowra Services Club on Monday night, with Cowra’s overall cultural diversity the theme.

It will be the 57th instalment of the festival but only the third time a particular country has not featured as the guest nation.

The other two occasions was when it celebrated cultural diversity in Cowra in 2002, and featured the United Nations in 2014.

With there still being a degree of uncertainty around international travel due to COVID-19 restrictions, Festival Coordinator Meredith Burton said it proved too tricky to make arrangements to have a guest nation.

“We made contact with the embassies of a few countries but found it was going to be hard to get representa-tives here from their countries,” she said.

“Because of that we decided it would be a great opportunity to celebrate the cultural diversity we have here in Cowra, and this still ties in very well with the concept of international understanding. We’re a very multicultural town.”

The festival will have a large focus on Cowra’s Wiradjuri Aboriginal heritage, as well as multiculturalism in the shire and promotions on the shire itself.

Ms Burton said the festival committee was calling on all organisations in the shire to host side events to coincide with the festival, in line with promoting the shire’s diversity.

The festival will again feature staple events such as the Youth Ambassador program, opening dinner, street parade and carnival, but next year will also see an intervillage challenge, ‘Cowra’s Got Talent’, trivia night, various fundraisers, a bake-off, and a festival memorabilia display.

Expressions of interest forms for suppliers to the festival, Youth Ambassador nominations and carnival stall holders are now available at https://www.cowracouncil.com.au/Community/Festival-of-International-Understanding.

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