Young dancer hopes to help revive Nova Scotia Multicultural Festival
Jon Tattrie, Angela MacIvor | CBC News | Posted: May 16, 2016 2:44 PM | Last Updated: May 16, 2016
Jyotsna Challa lays out plan to turn cancelled event from 'really sad' to 'so happy'
An 11-year-old girl who planned to dance at this year's cancelled Nova Scotia Multicultural Festival now wants to bring the celebration back.
Jyotsna Challa may be 11, but she's a veteran of performing at the Halifax event as she's been on its stages since she was six.
"I thought, if it's going to be cancelled this year, it's going to be cancelled the rest of the time," she told Information Morning. "My plan was to do a fundraiser with my sister."
Usually, the École Grosvenor-Wentworth Park School student dances with her sister, Mona, who also creates henna designs at the festival via the Maritime Telugu Association. The family offers a chance to pose for photos in traditional Indian clothing, too.
"Taking part in the multicultural show is a real honour because you get to share your culture and traditions and show the rest of Halifax who you are and where you've come from," Mona Challa said.
"It really diversifies Halifax, and that's what we're well-known for as a welcoming country."
Turning 'really sad' into 'so happy'
Jyotsna first thought of offering henna and photos at a mall as a fundraiser. Next she wrote to past vendors at the festival, asking them to donate money to help reboot the festival.
"When my teacher told me the multicultural festival was cancelled this year, I was really, really sad. I was told the festival was not being held this year because there was not enough funding. So here are a few ideas," she writes in the letter.
"So please if you can somehow help with getting the multicultural festival back, we would be so happy. Please do not stop the multicultural festival because of one problem, together we can overcome this and bring back this Haligonian tradition."
Jyotsna will wait to hear from the vendors before moving to the next step.
Halifax's multicultural festival has been a sign of summer's start for the past 32 years, but will not go ahead this year due to financial issues.
The Multicultural Association of Nova Scotia, founded in 1975, has been ordered by court to pay more than $26,500 in outstanding debts dating back to the 2014 festival. Festival board members have declined to be interviewed about why the show was cancelled.
It had been scheduled for the weekend of June 17 near the Seaport Farmers' Market on Halifax's waterfront.
According to the Canada Revenue Agency, the association received more than $80,000 of government funding in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. That year, the organization got $60,000 from the Communities, Culture and Heritage department.
The province cut the amount of funding in half last fiscal year to $30,000.