Children’s Festival Organisation Inc. 2017 - 2018 ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING REVESBY WORKERS’ CLUB AGM29 July 2018 President’s Report I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land and pay my respects to the elders past and present. I would also like to acknowledge the presence of the Advisory Committee and the Management Committee today. I warmly welcome you all to our AGM in this beautiful environment, thanks to the generosity of Revesby Workers' Club. It is with much pleasure that I present the President’s report for the year ended 31st May 2018 at our Annual General Meeting here today. It has been another great year of achievements. First of all, our Nineteenth Children’s Festival in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown on the 17th of September last year attracted thousands of participants, thanks to the tireless efforts of all involved. Our fifth Children’s Festival in the City of Sydney was also a huge success. This festival was again proclaimed the biggest event in the “Living in Harmony Festival 2018” staged by the City of Sydney. The Children’s Festival in Sydney was something to treasure for the international students working with us and for the tourists arriving in Sydney at the International Passenger Terminal. Hopefully the experience will inspire the students to continue community service wherever they live, whether it’s in Australia or in their home countries. May I congratulate Mai, Mark, and Kana and their respective teams for their magnificent effort in making our various events big successes. The details of our two festivals held during the year 2017-2018 can be found in the reports of our Chairpersons. The Shindig, a celebration of friendship and gratitude to everyone, was held on 19th November and was attended by nearly 70 volunteers and representatives from participating groups. The 20th Anniversary Fundraising Concert was held for the first time on the 3rd of June in Revesby Workers’ Club. To stage this event we accepted the artistic challenge of creating something new, to demonstrate the strength of cultural diversity and community harmony. And we were successful, both artistically and financially. The concert brought in over $15,000. Our thanks go to all who participated, especially the sponsors, and to our volunteers: Kim Vo, Hiep Ho, Brian Laul, Yen Pham and their fundraising team. Another great development is the planned launch of the first Children’s Festival in Campbelltown next Sunday, the 5th of August. We are sure this event will inspire the people of the Macarthur region to embrace the shared values and cultural traditions at a grassroots level, and once again prove the popularity of our Children’s Festival concept. I would like to congratulate Brian and his team for their tremendous efforts and strongly urge everyone to support this new event. We will conclude our very busy year of celebrations with the Twentieth Children’s Festival to be held on the Sixteenth of September at Paul Keating Park, Bankstown. We will launch our 2019 activities with the sixth Sydney Children’s Festival on Sunday, Tenth of March at First Fleet Park, at Circular Quay in the city. Along with our excellent work in staging the Children’s Festivals, we have also significantly improved our finances through successful fundraising efforts. Consequently, the organisation’s finances are in a much better position than in previous years. This will be reported in detail later by our Treasurer, Gurmeet Kaur. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Gurmeet, and Thanh Mai for their tremendous effort in preparing the End of Year financial reports. Our events have been also received wider support from the media, thanks to Warren’s contribution. We need to keep strengthening our marketing and fundraising efforts, improving the quality and content of our Children’s Festivals in order to further satisfy the expectation of the wider community. The year, 2018, marks the 20th anniversary of the CFO and I believe we have so far done a great job! I wish to express my sincere thanks to the members of the Advisory Committee, the Management Committee, particularly the Chairpersons, for their commitment throughout the year. I particularly thank all of our sponsors, Federal and State Governments, the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, the City of Sydney, the City of Campbelltown and the corporate sponsors for their faith in our Children’s Festivals and for their generous support. We are also indebted to those children and adults who contributed so much on the day of each of our events. These are the schools, dance groups, community groups, youth clubs, marching bands and the charities that organised outdoor activities and took part in the wonderful entertainment program. Thank you so much. I would also like to thank particularly our long-serving volunteers for their dedication to the vision of our Organisation, which is to bring all children from every culture into an environment where they quite naturally play and live together in harmony in this wonderful country of Australia. I am so fortunate and happy to have worked with hundreds of enthusiastic and devoted Children’s Festival friends in the last 20 years to bring our 30 Children’s Festivals to success. Looking back on the 20 years of this Festival, we should be proud that we have made a difference in helping to build harmony in our society starting with children and bringing joy and pride to all of us, particularly to the children in our multicultural Australia. We have worked together harmoniously and in the most economical way to obtain these achievements. I would like to say “thank you” to you all for your great contribution and co-operation in the past 20 years. I look forward to another great year of achievement and growth. Please accept my deep appreciation for your continued efforts. Thank you very much for your attention today. Thuat V. Nguyen, OAM Children’s Festival in Sydney, First Fleet Park, Sunday 8.4.2018 On Sunday 8 April 2018, the Children’s Festival Organisation, in its 20th Anniversary Year, held its 30th Children’s Festival, and the 5th in Sydney city under sunny skies. This Festival was again a part of the City of Sydney’s “Living in Harmony Festival”. For the fourth consecutive year, the Festival was held at First Fleet Park between Circular Quay and The Rocks with the picturesque backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour. This Park continues to be a good location with incidental pedestrian traffic ensured a good crowd for most of the day. Track work that closed Circular Quay Railway Station caused more than a little inconvenience and frustration, and no doubt affected some of the crowd numbers, but this was somewhat compensated by the large passenger ship in port near to the Festival site. Vehicular service access to the Park was also affected by light rail construction and the compound for this under the Cahill Expressway next to the Park. The Festival organisers were delighted that the Minister for Multiculturalism and Minister for Disability Services, Hon Ray Williams MP, could again open the Festival. Other honoured guests who spoke included Aunty Millie Ingram, who gave the Acknowledgement to Country; Mark Coure MP, State Member for Oatley and Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure; and Deputy Mayor Jess Miller (with her daughter) representing the Lord Mayor of Sydney. Letters of Support were also received from Jihad Dib MP, State Member for Lakemba and Shadow Minister for Education; Sophie Cotsis MP, State Member for Canterbury and Shadow Minister for Women, Ageing, Disability Services and Multiculturalism; Alex Greenwich MP, State Member for Sydney: Dr G.K. Harinath OAM and Hakan Harman, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer respectively of Multicultural NSW; and Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney. The colourful and vibrant atmosphere at the Festival was highlighted by a Children’s Parade and on-stage entertainment from mid-morning to late afternoon, and some 30 performing groups from different cultures, including a Traditional Aboriginal Welcome and National Anthem performed by a multicultural children’s group. A variety of children’s activities – animal farm, colouring in, face painting, giant bubbles, henna art, kite making, mural, parachute games, traditional costume display, Tumbletown mobile centre, umbrella painting and under 5’s area, etc, kept the children well occupied and entertained. There was also a poster competition on the theme, “Celebrating Australia Together” with winners announced and entries displayed at the Festival. There was integral and invaluable participation of many community organisations and volunteers and other in-kind support. Funding or sponsorship support was received from the NSW Government (Multicultural NSW and Property NSW), and from several minor sponsors including the City of Sydney, Metro Assist, Scouts Australia NSW, Settlement Services International, Sikh Association of Sydney, Universal Peace Federation, and the Vietnamese Students’ Association. However, the need to find additional and alternative funding beyond government grants and usual regular supporters continues to be self-evident. So long as ongoing financial support can be secured, the Children’s Festival in Sydney city is destined to become an integral ongoing annual event in this city’s calendar. We owe all this to the vision, passion and tireless commitment to Children’s Festival Organisation Founder and President, Thuat Nguyen OAM. Due to the NSW State election in late March, we have reserved an earlier date for next year’s Festival in First Fleet Park - Sunday 10 March. We look forward to your ongoing support and to seeing you there! Co-Chairs: Mark Burfield & Kana Phung Children’s Festival in Bankstown Paul Keating Park, Sunday 17.9.2018 Another successful City of Canterbury Bankstown Children's Festival was held on Sunday 17th September 2017 at Paul Keating Park.