Multicultural March

Multicultural March celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity, which is about inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone. 2026 saw various events to celebrate including international film screenings, mask making and art workshops.

International Day of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Harmony Day

Harmony Day is a key part of Multicultural March, celebrating Australia’s rich cultural diversity. It promotes inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for all. In 2026 this was held on Saturday 21st of March.

To mark the occasion, our Children’s Librarians have curated a special reading list featuring stories of diversity, kindness, inclusion and acceptance. Click here to read the recommendations.

“Did You Know?” Community Exhibition 2026

Randwick Council is working on a range of activities to enhance social cohesion, one of these projects is the "Did You Know?" Community Exhibition 2026.

Project Overview

Randwick City Council is seeking a community-engaged artist or arts collective to co-create the “Did You Know?” exhibition in collaboration with culturally diverse communities across the Randwick LGA. The exhibition will explore cultural identity, lived experience, and local contributions through creative storytelling, forming part of Council’s NSW Social Cohesion Grant initiative to foster inclusion and respond to racism and division.

The final exhibition will be held at Lionel Bowen Library, Maroubra, from Saturday 21 March to Monday 20 April 2026, with a launch event on Saturday 21 March.

Artist Profile

Giannina M. Casanova (Artist/Curator)

Giannina began her artistic journey at an early age, shaped by a deeply creative upbringing. Raised by parents who were both accomplished artists—her father an illustrator, street artist, and actor, and her mother a painter and art therapist—she was immersed in a world where artistic exploration was a way of life. Their creative pursuits took the family across Latin America, from Santiago, Chile, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, before ultimately settling in Sydney in the mid-1980s.

Growing up within this vibrant and culturally rich environment, Giannina developed an intuitive and lifelong connection to art. From an early age, she not only created art but also embraced the importance of sharing it, later extending her practice into teaching and facilitating workshops for both adults and children. Fluent in Spanish and English, she engages with diverse communities, building meaningful cross-cultural connections through creative expression.

After completing high school, Giannina began refining her personal artistic voice. By the early 2000s, she had formally emerged onto the Sydney art scene, establishing herself as an independent and distinctive creative force. Over the years, she has participated in numerous collaborative projects, public murals, workshops, and exhibitions, presenting her work across Latin America, Central America, Europe, and Australia. Primarily self-taught, Giannina’s practice is defined by an unconventional and highly personal approach to artmaking. Unbound by rigid academic frameworks, she embraces experimentation and creative risk.

Her work draws deeply from her multicultural heritage—Latin American, Native American, Russian, and European — as well as from her personal experiences and life journeys. Each piece is a passionate and intuitive response to the world around her, expressed through vibrant colour palettes, dynamic forms, and emotive visual storytelling.

Her artistic language reveals a sophisticated understanding of light, shadow, and spatial installation. She often challenges conventional perception, creating immersive works that evoke unpredictability, intensity, and emotional resonance. Viewers are invited not merely to observe, but to experience her art on a visceral level.

As an art educator and mentor, Giannina champions a philosophy of “think less, feel more,” encouraging her students to trust intuition, embrace curiosity, and cultivate creative courage. She fosters environments where imagination and authenticity flourish, empowering individuals to discover their own artistic voice. Rooted in a rich and diverse cultural lineage,

Giannina continues to leave a distinctive imprint on the Sydney art scene. Guided by vivid memories, dreams, and a profound belief in the transformative power of colour, she brings to life both her own vision and the expressive potential of those she teaches.

Maria Rosa Casanova (Art Therapist)

Born in Santiago, Chile, and shaped by migration through Argentina before settling in Australia, Maria’s life and artistic practice are deeply informed by cross-cultural experience. Raised in an artistic family — with a father who was a painter and a mother who was a fashion designer — she was immersed in creative expression from an early age, exploring painting, colour, and handcrafted art.

After arriving in Australia without speaking English, art became a vital form of

communication and belonging. Through acrylic and oil painting, and art workshops she continued to develop her artistic voice while discovering the profound emotional and connective power of creative expression. This understanding inspired her to further her studies, completing an Advanced Certificate in Community Welfare, Advanced Diploma in Transpersonal Art Therapy, Bachelor of Arts Psychotherapy and a Master of Counselling.

Maria has over ten years of extensive experience facilitating workshops primarily with multicultural communities across all ages. Her work extends to mental health settings and aged care facilities, where she supports emotional wellbeing through creative and therapeutic art practices. Throughout her career, she has worked as a self-employed, contracted practitioner, delivering freelance workshops and providing private art therapy and counselling services to individuals and community groups. In this capacity, she has collaborated with organisations such as South Eastern Community Connect, Sydney Multicultural Community Services, Bolton Clarke Home Care Facilities, Hirondelle Mental Health Hospital, and Randwick Council.

She continues to lead workshops in partnership with Sydney Multicultural Community Services, supporting diverse communities through creative and therapeutic art practices. Her contributions to the field were recognised with a nomination for the Women’s Health Award.

Maria’s work is grounded in the belief that art is a bridge — between cultures, emotions, and healing. She believes that language, age, or gender is not a barrier for communication through art, and that creative expression can be a powerful tool for overcoming grief, homesickness, stress, and other emotional challenges especially refugees, migrants and multicultural communities, she recognises art as a vital language when words are not yet available, enabling self-expression, connection, and emotional well-being.

Multicultural in the Library

The City of Randwick is incredibly diverse, with migrants from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, as well as communities with Chinese, Greek, Indonesian, Spanish, French, Italian and Russian speaking backgrounds. Randwick City Library provides many services and activities for people whose first language is other than English.

• Multicultural Activities - Randwick City Library offers a wide range of events and activities designed with our multicultural community in mind. Join multilingual events for children, technical tutoring classes, English conversation classes or a book club.
• Community Language Collections - Randwick City Library holds collections of resources in a number of languages. These resources include books, magazines, ebooks and audio-visual material in a variety of community languages.
• Resources for Learning English - Randwick City Library has a great selection of resources, both physical and online, for those looking to improve their English skills (including listening, reading, vocabulary, grammar and more) or complete the IELTS test.
• English Conversation Classes - Randwick City Library provides English Conversation classes for people wishing to improve their English language skills. Migrants from all non-English speaking backgrounds are welcome to attend classes. This is a great way to meet new people and help you feel part of the community.

For more information on multicultural resources and events in the Library, please visit our multicultural page.

Randwick City Council is a Welcoming City

Randwick City Council is a member of Welcoming Cities is a national network of cities, shires, towns and municipalities who are committed to an Australia where everyone can belong and participate in social, cultural, economic and civic life.

Randwick City Council is a Refugee Welcome Zone

Randwick City Council welcomes and supports refugees and asylum seekers in our city. In 2006, Randwick Council adopted the Refugee Council of Australia's 'Refugee Welcome Zone' initiative by signing a declaration that communicates:

• 'A commitment in spirit to welcoming refugees into our community',
• 'Upholding the human rights of refugees',
• 'Demonstrating compassion for refugees' and
• 'Enhancing cultural and religious diversity in our community.'

More information is available from the Refugee Council of Australia website

Inner East Sydney Migrant Interagency (IESMI)

Randwick City Council convenes the Inner East Sydney Migrant Interagency, a network of 104 members from 73 agencies. The interagency works with diverse communities and focuses on workforce development, identifying referral pathways, a range of collaborative projects and activities that celebrate our diverse community. To join IESMI contact our Social Cohesion and Multicultural Officer on aniela.pepe@randwick.nsw.gov.au

Settlement Support Services

Assisting newly arrived migrants, Council maintains close links with migrant and multicultural services. For more information, contact:

Sydney Multicultural Community Services: programs in Aged Care, Settlement and the broader community through Australian Government funded initiatives such as Multicultural Home Care Packages and the 22 member consortium NSW Settlement Partnership (NSP).

Refugee Advice Casework Services (RACS): RACS gives a stronger voice to people seeking asylum. Affiliated with and proudly supported by the University of New South Wales and provides legal assistance, outreach, policy & reform and education.

TAFE NSW AMEP: The Adult Migrant English Program is funded by the Australian Government and provides up to 510 hours free English tuition to help migrants and refugees settle successfully in Australia.

Language aides and interpreters

In order to assist the needs of residents who have English as a second language, a number of Council staff have been trained as language aides to provide assistance to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Council also has access to the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) (TIS).

Information in other languages on our website

Google Translate is available to use on the Randwick City Council's website. This is to ensure our content is available in as many languages as possible including Chinese, Greek, Indonesian, Russian, and Spanish.

For more information, please click here.