About

The free, not-for-profit Buddha’s Day & Multicultural Festival is one of Victoria’s longest-standing multicultural festivals and will be celebrating its 29th anniversary in 2025. It has firmly established itself as an iconic attraction for thousands to celebrate cultures and traditions over three massive days of festivities.

The Festival celebrates the birth of Buddha and the diversity of our multicultural and multi-faith society through a curated programme offering traditional Buddhist Ceremonies, transformative digital experiences and activations, arts, music, cultural performances, spiritual wellbeing lectures, blessing ceremonies, children’s activities and so much more.

Our vibrant festival programme of accessible performances and events fosters multicultural community connections, bridging cultural divides through the celebration of art and culture.

Recognised as a significant event in Melbourne’s event calendar by the City of Melbourne and the Victorian Government, our primary goals are:

Join us for our Light It Up Opening Ceremony at 6.30pm on Friday 2nd May, at which all of our Festival installations will be switched on simultaneously.

We look forward to seeing you again!

Fo Guang Shan Melbourne
Fo Guang Shan (meaning the Buddha’s Light Mountain) is one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the world operating over 300 branch temples and several educational institutions.

BLIA Victoria
Buddha’s Light International Association of Victoria (BLIA Vic) is one of over 200 regional chapters of BLIA with millions of members worldwide and was formed in November 1992 by a group of devotees dedicated to the propagation of the Dharma, cultural exchange, education and charity work.

Festival Data Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to Buddha’s Light International Association of Victoria, and the International Buddhist College of Victoria and we take the responsibility of handling your personal information very seriously.

We recognise the trust with which Festival volunteers and patrons provide personal information.  This privacy policy outlines how we collect and handle your personal information in compliance with the laws of Australia.

Why do we collect your personal information and what do we use it for?

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for our Festival operations only, including to coordinate volunteer teams, to disseminate volunteer and WH&S information, to provide updates, to confirm Baby Blessing Ceremony bookings, and to otherwise achieve any other purpose required to operate and produce the Festival.

We will take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure that your personal information is not kept longer than is necessary to fulfil the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Who do we disclose your personal information to?

For Baby Blessing Ceremony bookings, we may disclose your personal information to service providers as needed for them to perform their specific function. They cannot use that information for other purposes.

We may also release your information when it is necessary to comply with the law, enforce our site policies or to protect ours or others’ rights, property or safety.

We will not use your personal information for direct marketing (i.e. the offering, or advertising of the availability of goods, services or facilities of a third party through sending information or goods to you specifically) and we will not provide your personal information to a third party for use in their direct marketing to you specifically, without your consent.

How do we protect your information?

We take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure your personal information is protected against unauthorised or accidental access, processing, loss or use.  We use a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information and take all reasonable steps to keep secure all personal information recorded.