Global Grooves is an initiative of Mackay Regional Council and Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre.

KEY ISSUES

• Global Grooves festival is held annually in October and is Mackay’s largest multicultural event that allows locals to celebrate the diverse cultural communities that together make up Mackay.
• The event features culturally diverse food, traditional dance performances, artwork and music from a range of national and international artists, workshops and market stalls. 
• In the 2021 Census, the Local Government Area of Mackay had an estimated population of 121,691 people with approximately 14,485 people (11.9 per cent) born overseas, with top countries of birth being New Zealand, England, Philippines, South Africa and India. The most common languages other than English spoken in the home are Tagalog (Philippines), Afrikaans, Filipino, Mandarin and Maltese.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS/GST

• The Department of Environment and Science, through Multicultural Affairs Queensland, allocated one-off funding of $20,000 to assist with the delivery of this event through the Celebrating Multicultural Queensland Program – Multicultural Events 2022-23 funding round.