Ara | Te Pūkenga Looks Forward To Hosting Multicultural Aoraki Festival

The tastes, sounds and colours of an array of cultures are set to entice hundreds of people onto the Ara | Te Pūkenga Timaru campus field on Saturday 11 March.

The festival event which is run by Multicultural Aoraki and proudly sponsored by Ara is expected to be the largest to date with 80 stall holders as well as various performances.

Director of Southern Campuses Leonie Rasmussen hopes it "will give the community the chance to celebrate diversity and learn more about the rich cultural opportunities that exist right on their doorstep".

"It’s also a great way for us all to connect outside of our day-to-day practice providing opportunities for ākonga (students) from all cultures to train for new roles or new beginnings in our beautiful region," Rasmussen said.

"But there will certainly be information on hand for those still seeking to study this year, with lots of opportunities from workplace learning and short courses to English language classes and our Competency Assessment Programme in Nursing. It’s not too late to find out more."

Rasmussen said in between soaking up the atmosphere her team will be available to talk through semester two options as well.

"We’ll be there to chat about everything from Study and Career Prep options to Early Childhood Education, Health and Wellbeing courses, Trades and beyond," she said.

Multicultural Aoraki General manager Katy Houstoun said the phenomenal growth in the festival lead them to seek the large space Ara could offer this year.

"To be honest we can’t speak highly enough of the support Ara has given us," Houston said. "The team are always so supportive of the work we do in our community and enabling us to use their field is just another way that they show this support," Houstoun said.

Houstoun noted that the Aoraki region was a lot more culturally diverse than many people realised - and pointed out her team worked with over 40 different ethnicities across the region with that figure continuing to grow.

"Employers are having to recruit from overseas to fill employment vacancies and many people are moving to Aoraki for a better, more relaxed quality of life," she explained.

She said her team are looking forward to the festivities.

"Our community is very supportive and positive about this event from amazing funders who have backed us to run it to the many supporting agencies who are coming along to get involved and share the awesome work they do. We're looking forward to it!"

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