PROJECT SERIES

Courtyard Cantina, Immigration Museum

Review by Aleczander Gamboa

Located at Melbourne’s iconic Immigration Museum, the Courtyard Cantina was a spectacular celebration of culture, art, and diversity. With a vast array of live music, fantastic food and good conversation, the event was a cultural feast that showcased how far Melbourne has come in terms of accepting different cultures with open arms – an atmosphere well suited to its name of ‘Cantina’ which means ‘for anybody’.

Music included Latino street music, 50s throwbacks and even good old soul. Meanwhile, the food ranged from Middle Eastern to South American, from the likes of Burn City Smokers, Trailer Made and El Alamo to name a few. As the event ran for each week for the month of February, every week had a point of difference to keep attendees guessing and wanting more. To coincide with its partnership with Melbourne Fashion Festival, a free wine tasting session was available to all the guests in attendance.

When interviewing Immigration Museum Programming Manager Eleni Kaponis about the event, Kaponis said that the purpose of the event was to provide cultures with an outlet to not only showcase their talents and works, but also more importantly to educate people on diversity and acceptance.

“It’s all about empowerment of the individual and their cultural heritage, linking it back to multiculturalism and how widely accepted it is here in Australia,” she said.

Upon viewing the mini exhibitions of fashion from different countries from emerging designers including Yaz’s Designs and Dima G, the unique designs stands testament to how influential culture is on the world of fashion.

Overall, Courtyard Cantina showed that despite our cultural differences, art and fashion have the power to bring us together in more ways than one, empowering us to celebrate our uniqueness in stunning technicolour.