Taste of Portugal Festival will be a new, day-long festival highlighting the best in Portuguese food, language, music and dance, and culture.
It’s one of the 2023 events funded by the City of Melbourne that’s just been announced today, with more details set to follow over the next couple of months. Other events also include an open-air live music series, a Portuguese festival and a floating entertainment experience.
The City of Melbourne will help to stage and deliver 48 events in 2023, allocating more than $1.4 million, and an additional $430,000 in-kind support.
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The Event Partnership Program provides a total of $2.5 million each year to boost the city’s vibrant events calendar and entice more people in.
Highlights from the 2023 Event Partnership Program include:
- District Live: Open-Air Series – an outdoor live music and entertainment series showcasing emerging and established local artists from Melbourne and regional Victoria.
- Taste of Portugal Festival – a day-long festival highlighting the best in Portuguese food, language, music and dance, and culture.
- Uniquely Melbourne – a floating entertainment experience in Docklands.
- Lunar New Year – a celebration of the Year of the Rabbit in Chinatown, featuring lion and dragon dancing, live performances, street food, cultural and educational activities, and more.
- Melbourne International Student Week – a week filled with events and activations to showcase Melbourne and the students who choose to call it home.
- Holi Festival – a two-day multicultural celebration of harmony, colour, music and dance.
- Melbourne Whisky Week – a unique, city-wide event showcasing a range of traditional and diverse spirits and whiskies.
Crowd favourites such as the Night Noodle Markets, Vida Melbourne Latin Festival, Kids Day Out, International Dumpling Festival and NGV Kids Summer Festival will also return as part of the 2023 program – drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the CBD.
A number of major events are still to come this year, including the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Fringe Festival and a new Alexander McQueen exhibition at the NGV.
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Planning is also underway for a Christmas Festival in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“Melbourne puts on a show like no other – our stellar events calendar is one of our biggest assets – and a huge part of what draws people into the city,” Lord Mayor Sally Capp said.
“We’re proud to support much-loved events such as Lunar New Year, the Night Noodle Markets and the NGV Kids Summer Festival, as well as six exciting, never-before-seen experiences.”
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“In September, pedestrian activity near Town Hall exceeded pre-pandemic levels nearly every day of the month – and we expect this spectacular line-up of events will drive further visitation to the city.”
“We know that events are the number one driver of trips to Melbourne, attracting 30 million visits and boosting our local economy by $52 million. That’s why we dedicated $25 million to events in our 2022-23 Council Budget.”
For more information on the program and the 2023 recipients, visit the City of Melbourne website.
