Festival organisers try to overcome cut in funding

THE Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival will go ahead in 2013 despite losing $33,000 in State Government funding.

THE Toowoomba Languages and Cultures Festival will go ahead in 2013 despite losing $33,000 in State Government funding.

The festival was allocated three years worth of funding from the previous state government.

However, with the Coalition now in power and only one year into the funding promise, the grant was cancelled.

"We will still have the festival," Toowoomba International and Multicultural Society president and festival committee chairman Gitie House said.

"We are looking at other sources and various ways to raise funds and to make it sustainable."

Ms House said festival organisers would reapply for funding through the Multicultural Affairs Queensland, as well as through non-government channels.

"All the rules have changed with the new government so we are not relying on just that source," she said.

The annual Languages and Cultures Festival is a one-day event in Queens Park.

It gives local groups the opportunity to showcase their culture through food, activities and demonstrations.

"One thing we have to consider, and a decision is not yet made, is whether we will have to charge a small entry fee," Ms House said.

"The aim of the event is to be a community event, so it is not our aim to charge fees, but the infrastructure costs are so big."

The festival will be staged on August 11, 2013.

Originally published as Festival organisers try to overcome cut in funding