The Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre has been awarded the 2024 Victorian Multicultural Award for Excellence in Arts for fostering social cohesion through innovative programs like the HOME exhibition.
As Dandenong’s cultural heart, the gallery celebrates the city’s vibrant multicultural community through diverse exhibitions, artist talks, and monthly openings. Funded by the City of Greater Dandenong, it showcases contemporary art that reflects Australia’s rich cultural tapestry.
HOME, the flagship exhibition program, highlights artists with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. This year’s exhibition featured Naarm-based Ethiopian-Norwegian artist Olana Janfa, whose Too Much Drama series explored migration and belonging with bold imagery and Ethiopian iconography.
This award underscores the gallery’s commitment to art as a unifying force, enhancing connection and inclusivity in Greater Dandenong.
The annual event was recognised for bringing together 35,000 people to celebrate multiculturalism and fostering social connectedness, local business engagement and tourism.
The event is the biggest winter street food festival in Victoria. The judges said, “The event highlights multicultural communities and provides entertainment, activities and delicious food from around the world – even delivering snow to the centre of Springvale.”