Select a region
Ministers are yet to decide whether they will fund any Lunar New Year celebrations this year – despite the key date being little more than a week away, Express has learned.
The annual celebration, also known as Chinese New Year and the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of the lunar calendar.
This year, it falls on 29 January and marks the start of the Year of the Snake, which is said to symbolise wisdom, renewal and transformation.
For the last two years, the Creative Island Partnership, the Government's creative community fund, has hosted Lunar New Year festival events in Jersey.
Chinese heritage events, public performances and Asian food marketsfeatured on the packed festival timetable for the Year of the Dragon in 2024 and the Year of the Rabbit in 2023. However, due to a recent Government restructure, which cut jobs, merged departments and froze recruitment, the fate of the 2025 event appears to be hanging in the balance.
Set up under Kristina Moore's government to help promote cultural diversity in Jersey, the International Culture Centre was previously involved in the festival.
However, due to the change in Government following the vote of no confidence last January, "no funding was provided from the International Culture Centre Jersey" towards January's Chinese Lunar New Year festival, information obtained following a request under the Freedom of Information Law revealed.
Pictured: The opening ceremony at Jersey's first Lunar New Year Festival in 2023.
Instead, the Creative Island Partnership contributed around £31,000 towards it.
The £300,000 budget for the ICC was then cut.
When asked about this year's Lunar New Year plans by Express, a spokesperson for the Economy Department, which decides how much funding is distributed to the Creative Island Partnership, told Express that, following the re-structure, there is "less money" to go round.
They confirmed that a meeting is due to be held this week to decide how much, if any, funding can be allocated to facilitate Lunar New Year, which may not be the only event to be affected.
"We're trying to support as many events as possible and there is going to be a meeting next week," they said.
Group behind cultural celebrations faces funding cuts
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.