Daylesford’s Swiss Italian Festa is set to continue for at least the next three years thanks to private and government funding, but organisers say the festival’s long-term future is dependent on continued community support.
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Swiss Italian Festa president Ian Head says the festival relied on a combination of private, local and state government funding and the help of volunteers.
“If government funding isn’t forthcoming the festa seriously is in jeopardy and will have to be cut back quite dramatically in terms of the length of time it runs and the number of events,” he says.
A four-year $6500 grant from the state government Office of Multicultural Affairs has provided financial security for the Swiss Italian Festa until 2020.
Hepburn Shire Council first formalised a funding agreement with the festival in 2010 and contributed $10,000 towards the cost of a professional event organiser and marketing.
The council voted on a recommendation to enter into a new three-year agreement at a meeting on Tuesday. A council report recommended $10,000 funding support for the first year and $5000 for the following two years of the agreement.
Mr Head says financial certainty gives the Swiss Italian Festa committee confidence to continue.
“I think both the state government and in the past, Hepburn Shire, have been commendable in looking at it as a three or four-year program rather than the festa having to run on a slightly perilous year to year basis,” he says.
“Without that underpinning it would be very difficult to put a festa on.”
In its 25th year, the Swiss Italian Festa continues to celebrate the Swiss and Italian heritage of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford.
Mr Head says the festival helps preserve the culture and history of early settlers and families in their sixth and seventh generation living in the region.
This year’s festival runs from October 18 to 22.
