Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged $800,000 over the next four years to support the Antipodes Festival, Melbourne’s largest Greek festival.
Andrews said the funding would help the Antipodes Festival “be bigger and better than it has ever been.”
The two-day festival, the largest Greek festival held outside of Greece, was held this weekend in Melbourne’s Lonsdale Street.
Organised by the Greek Community of Melbourne, the festival featured 80 pop-up market stalls alongside music and performances.
“It is great to be here in one of the great, Greek cities of the world,” Premier Andrews said at the festival’s official opening on Saturday.
“We of course gather here to celebrate all that the Greeks have given us in Melbourne, in Victoria, in Australia and across the world.”
Andrews election pledge was immediately matched by Opposition Leader, Matthew Guy.
“Whatever happens at the end of the year at the election, this committee who runs this wonderful event will receive $800,000 to keep it going,” Guy said.
