CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL ORGANISATION INC.
CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL bOOK - A WONDERFUL STORY
EoY Celebration 2021
It was great that the CFO was able to hold an EOY gathering in early December 2021. Given the fact that there had been no Children’s Festival for almost two years in the wake of the pandemic except the Book launch and AGM in early December 2020, the gathering was a wonderful opportunity for CFO’s members, volunteers, performance groups, supporters and friends to interact, socialise and party face to face, making everyone so happy. And here’s the feedback from some of the attendees:
“… The end of year party was a huge success. Everything was well organized…”
Tina Kaur, one of the Children’s Festival’s main MCs over the many years.
“… Thank you for the wonderful afternoon, entertainment and food, you always express so much gratitude to all, the photos are very good...”
Catrine Von Dinklage, member of the Universal Peace Federation Australia.
“… It was nice to finally meet and enjoy face to face interaction. Thank you for a lovely presentation and the amazing food…”
L. Constantinova on behalf of Kalinka Creative Arts Group
“…Thanks for inviting us to the end-of-year gathering I really enjoyed it. It was wonderful to see everyone again…”
Amanpreet Kamal, Events Coordinator, Sikh Association of Sydney Revesby Punjabi School
“…Thank you for inviting us to your event. We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon…. We look forward to working with you in the new year…”
Chris Bailey, Officer Commanding, Australian Air League, Riverwood Squadron
The event was attended by some 40 people.
Children's Festival Book II
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY ORGANISE CHILDREN'S FESTIVALS - eBooK
Following the successful publication of the Children's Festival Book I -“Playing together and Living in Harmony”, the Children's Festival Book II - "How to successfully organise Children's Festivals” provides a clear and solid understanding of how we have successfully staged these events in the past. It aims to bring the Children’s Festival experience to wider audiences and to encourage like-minded people to hold a festival in other parts of the state and across the country. The work will be a great reference for organisers, and we are hopeful that it will help the Children’s Festival concept to keep growing long into the future.
We are fortunate that the contributors who have also been our key volunteers for a long time come from different professional areas: youth leaders, teachers, lawyers, event organisers, social workers… but all of them have the same vision: “to contribute to social harmony and cohesion, starting with children, because as we always acknowledge Children are our future.”
We strive to achieve that vision by bringing joy to children, their families and the community at a Children’s Festival, because “Those who play together stay together”.
However, our world is changing rapidly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and many things in our lives are different, including in the area of event management. Therefore, our Children's Festival Book II will be updated following the completion of this year’s Children’s Festivals to reflect the changes that we will discover are required to run such a cultural event in the years to come, and also add more interesting details to the Book.
We sincerely hope you find in this work not only the guidelines to successfully organise a Children’s Festival but also that you learn something of the heart and soul of the many unwavering volunteers who work together with the hope to contribute to building a better world for all of us and the next generations.
Children’s Festival Organisation Inc.
The eBook "How to successfully organise Children's Festivals" can be downloaded here
Children's Festival Book I
CHiLREN's FESTIVAL BOOK - A wonderful STORY
Testimonials
- "They are beautiful! So professionally done with many great photos." (Elena Samsonova)
- "Beautifully done and highly recommended I am sure they (the children and their parents) will be all happy."(Cora Bojarski)
- "Many hardworking volunteers have produced a wonderful Festival and followed on with a very beautiful historical book. "(Gwen and Colin Platt)
- "The book is a great testament to the work and success of the organisation." (Harry Fuelling)
- " As the years go by and the world changes, the work of the Children's Festival becomes even more important. I was thinking of the verbs - Playing & Living and the adverbs Together in Harmony - how powerful are those words." (Vivi Martin)
- "... So many beautiful and meaningful photos of different sizes in the book" (Thiên Lý Tôn Nữ Ly)
- "... I like the quote "Children are our future" which is referred to in the book..." (Tammy Tran)
- " A highly successful book launch with the supportive attendances of representatives of the governments at all levels." (Duc Hung Bui)
- "Congratulations on a wonderful book and thank you for taking the time to post it to me. The photos are awesome! Gosh what a lot of work, you have done a great job collating all the memories." (Jennifer Craddock)
- "The book sends a great message. The photos are wonderful." (VanHoa Nguyen)
- "Thank you CFO supporters for a wonder show. The Audio Visuals were fantastic!!!
- What a great Book launch!! " (John Pestana Jnr)
BOOK LAUNCH
BOOK REVIEW
CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL: PLAYING TOGETHER AND LIVING IN HARMONY
by Ross Leighton
Ross Leighton, although not being directly involved in the CF, is not a stranger to these celebrations. As one of the longest serving officers with the NSW government’s multicultural agency, starting with the Ethnic Affairs Commission, then later Community Relations Commission and finally Multicultural NSW - Ross has had a close look at these celebrations over the many years and has kindly provided his assessment in the form of a book review as follows (Kim Vo)
From simple beginnings in Bankstown in 1999 the Children’s Festival has evolved to become an important event in the calendar of multicultural events in New South Wales. Children’s Festivals have since been held in Bankstown, Canterbury, Marrickville, Sydney and Campbelltown. This commemorative publication covers the history of the Children’s Festival since 1999 and is intended as the first volume of a comprehensive record of the event. A second volume will deal with the steps involved in organising the Children’s Festival.
The Children’s Festival has grown so much that the Children’s Festival Organisation Inc was established to oversee the event and coordinate the participation of more than four hundred community organisations. The importance of the Children’s Festival can be gauged by the large number of messages of support from dignitaries and community representatives which are included in this excellent publication.
Over the years the Children’s Festival has been characterised by parades, songs, dancing, poster and essay competitions, stalls and costume displays representing an impressive number of cultural and community groups. These are all mentioned in the publication and accompanied by many photographs which depict the cultural diversity of the event and of New South Wales.
The text is brief and interesting, leaving ample space for the most significant part of the publication, the aforementioned photographs which are a valuable record of the Children’s Festival over the past twenty-one years. It must be interesting for those involved with the Children’s Festival for so long to see how it has grown and developed.
The success and longevity of the Children’s Festival is a testament to the Founder, Mr Thuat Van Nguyen OAM, who also coordinated the efforts of the editing and layout team. Mr Nguyen’s remarkable contribution to our multicultural community is commendable. I enjoyed reading the publication and have returned to it many times. I look forward to reading the second volume when it becomes available.
Ross Leighton