KALEIDOSCOPE Festival was a notable omission from the City of Joondalup’s 2019-20 budget, meaning it will not return this year.
The City’s three-year contract with Mellen Events to deliver the illumination festival ended after last year’s event, with Mayor Albert Jacob saying the staging of a significant event such as Kaleidoscope was considered as part of the 2019-20 budget process.
“It was determined that continuing to deliver the event was too difficult without significant support from the State Government and the corporate sector,” he told the Weekender after the budget was approved at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
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READ NOW“The City was committed to improving its operating position and reducing its costs to ensure the 2019-20 budget provided as low a rates increase as possible and lessen the burden on residents and ratepayers.”
Mr Jacob said the City was proud to have “grown Kaleidoscope into the largest cultural lighting and arts event in WA in only three short years”.
“Kaleidoscope achieved terrific success in all of its strategic objectives – generating more than $11 million of economic benefit for the local region over its three-year run and attracting more than a quarter of a million people to the Joondalup city centre,” he said.
“The success of Kaleidoscope shows the appetite for high-quality events in the region.
“The City is excited to look for new partners to bring similarly significant events to the region to benefit our community, tourists and local businesses.”