A new president and board will be elected for the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) at their annual general meeting on Sunday 25 November, however, it looks likely that things will stay the same as there is no indication from the so-called opposition that they will contest the election.
This year, the GOCMV marked a substantial profit that included the $2 million capital government grant for the cultural centre and the proceeds from the sale of one of their Footscray properties.
Bill Papastergiadis, president, GOCMV, told Neos Kosmos that the “actual profit is about $150,000 for the year”. “In light of the significant preliminary works we are undertaking to commence the construction of the cultural centre, I think is a remarkable effort because we’ve had to pay quite a few consultants and deal with a number of government agencies with a fair amount of fees involved,” he says, “so I think we’ve achieved a terrific result in circumstances where we have expenses outside of what is normally expected by the community.’
According to the GOCMV’s annual report for the financial period 2011/2012, advertising for the community increased by $21,383 from last year. Mr Papastergiadis says this is a testament to the increased activity and community engagement of the GOCMV. “What we’ve got now is a series of four festivals throughout the year which we didn’t two years ago or even last year,” he explains.
“We have a renewed focus on the food festival, the writers festival, the actual Glendi itself and the film festival, and the cultural seminars series which run for almost 20 weeks. We advertised every single one of those events and I think we ran another 20 or so events within the community,” adding, the advertising goes “purely to the Greek media” to inform the Greek community of events and the renewed surge of interest in the four festivals.
“[GOCMV] had a year that’s been largely successful in terms of cultural product and in terms of reinventing the profile of the community not only within the Greek Australian population but the broader population and that’s been reflected in audiences at our events – including the writers festival and the film festival.” The president has even been told by journalists from Greek that the GOCMV is the most vibrant of the global Greek diaspora communities.
Regarding the upcoming election of the GOCMV board and presidency, Mr Papastergiadis agreed that it has been “quiet” from any opposition, but says this may be likely because the current board are transparent, work with the community and have ensured that “no favourites are being played” adding the cohesion of the current board as another positive outcome for the Greek community.
