One of Australia’s leading community learning festivals kicked off this week with a distinct multicultural flavour.

The City’s Wyndham’s Learning Festival 2018 was launched this week with performances from Brazilian drummers, a Chinese choir and a local school orchestra.

Learning Festival coordinator Diane Tabbagh said the festival was a key component of Wyndham’s social inclusion and cohesion strategies.

“Learning happens everywhere and is for every person of all ages. It is about how we gain new skills, information, perspectives and aspirations,” she said.

“To build a ‘learning community’ a culture that values, celebrates, supports and encourages learning throughout life needs to be fostered and facilitated,”Tabbagh said

The Wyndham Learning Festival is a whole community event that provides opportunities for free learning activities across the city of Wyndham from 1-8 September.

The festival has activities for all ages and promotes lifelong learning. 2018 will be the third learning festival and we will build on the community support to make it even better, bringing in new events, sponsors and participants to reflect this diverse and dynamic learning community.

The festival plays a significant role in bringing together all people to create a focus on lifelong learning and to seek better outcomes for the Wyndham community.

The City of Wyndham, in the city’s west, is one of the fastest growing areas in Melbourne.

An average of 88 babies are born each week and recorded unemployment is higher than the national average. 34 per cent of the population were born overseas.

Over a quarter (25.9 per cent) of Wyndham residents speak English as a second language. Hence Wyndham as a community faces many challenges for its successful future.

Wyndham’s vision is to be a socially inclusive city with high levels of employment. Learning is a key for realising this vision.

Research shows that learning keeps people healthier, wealthier and happier.

“From a community perspective this is crucial as a learning community is more resilient and can adapt to change more readily, learn new skills and take advantage of opportunities,” Ms Tabbagh said.

Laurie Nowell
AMES Australia Senior Journalist