Vivid Sydney – Australia’s biggest festival – could be coming to Parramatta, as Council continues to look at ways to promote the city as a global destination.
City of Parramatta is pushing for greater funding from Destination NSW for tourism and events, as the Council seeks to entice more domestic and international visitors out west.
At a recent meeting, Council endorsed the development of a Parramatta Tourism Strategy, which includes a plan to advocate for funding for a ‘Vivid Parramatta’ program.
With Vivid Sydney achieving a record attendance this year, Lord Mayor Sameer Pandey said bringing Australia’s biggest festival to Parramatta is “very important”.
“Vivid Sydney had 3.28 million attendance this year and I’m very excited about Vivid Parramatta,” he said.
“I feel that we should have a collaborative approach and work with our stakeholders such as Powerhouse Museum, Parramatta Park, Walker Corporation, Venues NSW [and] Eels.
“I would like to see this happen sooner than later and I’m looking forward to the support of the State Government and the Minister to get some funding towards Vivid Parramatta.”
In a report, Council said western Sydney continues to receive a smaller proportion of Destination NSW funding for tourism and events, revealing that between 2015 and 2022 only 137 events in western Sydney were supported, compared to 354 events eastern Sydney.
The call for a ‘Vivid Parramatta’ program would look to address the “imbalance” of funding for festivals across greater Sydney.
Covering the entire Local Government Area (LGA), the Tourism Strategy would also include strategies and actions for developing the night time economy, unique events and festivals and flagship events, as well as consider ways to unlock the potential of Parramatta’s visitor economy.
Supporting the motion, Councillor Michelle Garrard said it’s important for Council to also find out what Parramatta is missing in order to “put it on the map”.
“We want to become an international destination, we are a river city, this strategy needs to identify opportunities to of what we can do on the foreshore,” she said.
“Every great city and every great destination has an art gallery, Parramatta doesn’t.
“Destination NSW pushes town’s like Dubbo, we all want to go to Dubbo because there’s a zoo, why do people want to come to Parramatta?”
Pandey will now write to the NSW Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham and relevant stakeholders to advocate for funding for ‘Vivid Parramatta’. A report on the estimated cost for the Tourism Strategy is set to return to Council at its September 25 meeting.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.