Harmony Fest 2025 – celebrating Ballarat’s cultural diversity

Ballarat, it's time to celebrate all the different cultures that make our city such a brilliant, unique and diverse place to live.

Harmony Fest, Ballarat’s most vibrant celebration of cultural diversity, is back for another year. 

A two-week festival, Harmony Fest runs from Friday 14 March to Thursday 27 March, with more than 20 different events to be part of the celebration. 

The festival will be launched at the Intercultural Garden on the corner of Sturt and Pleasant Street on Friday 14 March, with City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Tracey Hargreaves joining the City’s Intercultural Ambassadors and other intercultural leaders to kickstart the celebrations. 

Harmony Fest encompasses Harmony Day, the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is celebrated on 21 March. The day encourages Australians to come together to reflect on and celebrate the many cultures that create our great nation. 

The theme for 2025 Harmony Fest is ‘Everyone Belongs’. 

This year, the City of Ballarat is planning a huge celebration in the heart of the city. 

The flagship event for the festival will be ‘Harmony in the Mall’, a free community event in which everybody is invited to attend, featuring music, dance, food trucks, and activities for families in the newly-redeveloped Bridge Mall. 

‘Harmony in the Mall’ will be held on Saturday 22 March from 10am-2pm, where the mall will come to life in a burst of colour, atmosphere and cuisine to celebrate Ballarat’s cultural diversity. 

Cr Hargreaves said Harmony Fest was crucial to highlight the City of Ballarat’s commitment to building a culturally aware and socially cohesive community. 

“We are a city that embraces people from a diverse range of backgrounds, which is why events like Harmony Fest are so important,” she said. 

“Cultural diversity should not just be accepted, it should be celebrated, and that’s exactly what this festival is about. 

“I encourage everybody to attend one of the many events on offer, especially the Harmony in the Mall event, which sounds like an incredible day.” 

Harmony Fest aligns with the City of Ballarat’s Intercultural City Strategic Plan 2022-26, which lists “maximising and valuing diversity” as one of the key priority areas. 

To learn more about Harmony Fest 2025 and to see the full program, visit the City of Ballarat website.