In a festive and exciting atmosphere and in the company of distinguished guests, sponsors, artists and friends, the launch of the 2015 Festival Hellenika (formerly The Greek Cultural Month) took place in Adelaide.

The festival was officially opened by Hieu Van Le AO, governor of South Australia, who congratulated the organisers for the great work they do in supporting, celebrating and promoting the Hellenic Culture since 1991.

“I attend hundreds of cultural events throughout the year and I truly believe that Festival Hellenika is one of the best festivals we have in South Australia,” he said, proceeding to welcome the new Consul General of Greece Mr Andreas Konstantinos Gouras, the Chair of the State’s Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission Grace Portolesi, and other distinguished guests.

The initial aim of the festival, which started as an initiative by the then Consul General of Greece Mr D. Kountoureas and now counts 24 years in operation, was to coordinate the staging of cultural events during the month of March. In the last few years though, Festival Hellenika has become the most important event in the cultural activities of the Greek community in South Australia and is held annually in Adelaide during March, April and May. It is an open platform for people of any background to showcase Hellenic connections to the arts and their Australian manifestations.

Festival Hellenika is coordinated by the South Australian Council for the Greek Cultural Month Incorporated with a governing board of volunteers promoting the Greek civilisation and culture. The festival is non-political, non-sectarian, non profit and independent,

“It’s the involvement and drive of young people of the second generation that has led to the festival’s popularity and we are now proud to have grown the one month period of activities into three,” Mr Tassos Kapetanakis, one of the longest serving members of the organising committee, says.

The program for 2015 is indeed impressive, with a variety of events in music, theatre, visual art and literature as well as a number of lectures by prominent experts in their field.

“The events of the festival are mainly artistic, which promote the excellent examples of Greek civilisation and culture in our multicultural society,” Mr Kapetanakis says.

The organisers are very proud of this year’s program which you can find if you log onto their website – www.festivalhellenika.org.au, whilst the concert Greece – Mother of Mine (dedicated to composer Stavros Xarhakos) at the Adelaide Festival Centre on 20th and 21st of March as well as the concert K.P.KAVAFIS – By Heart and by Song, scheduled for Tuesday 31st of March at the Marion Cultural Centre, seem to already be attracting the interest of the Greek South Australian community. The twelve-member ensemble that is coming to Australia after successful performances all over Greece, the US and Europe consists of eight musicians, three vocalists and a narrator, all under the direction of Babis Koulouras. It will be all Greek to us for the next three months in Adelaide and we truly can’t wait.