Sydney Multicultural Women’s Festival 2026
MY ROLE
Creative Director
Experience Designer
SCOPE
Concept Development
Brand Identity
Print & Digital Collateral
End-to-End Event Management
OVERVIEW
Sydney Multicultural Women’s Festival (SMWF) is a flagship event bringing together multicultural women's communities across Sydney, delivered in partnership with an SMWF consortium. The 2026 edition, held on 21 June at Bowman Hall, Blacktown, brought together Afghan, Cambodian, Fulani, Iraqi and Uyghur communities in a single festival, with SSI on board as Gold Sponsor. Invitations were extended to the Governor-General Sam Mostyn AC, NSW Minister for Women Jodie Harrison, and Federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs Dr Anne Aly - a mark of the event's standing, even when diary conflicts meant they couldn't attend on the day.
An event at that scale, spanning five distinct communities and reaching government-level attention, needed a creative identity that could hold everyone together without flattening any one community's story into the others. It also needed to speak convincingly to two very different audiences at once: funders and government stakeholders on one side, and the communities the festival exists for on the other. Beyond the creative brief, the event itself needed to be physically built and run, from styling the venue to managing every supplier on site.
The defining creative decision was in the communications strategy: I built the festival's narrative around Joy, Leadership and Culture, deliberately avoiding the trauma-centred framing that multicultural and refugee stories are often reduced to. That single choice shaped everything downstream, including the tone of every asset - from sponsor materials to on-the-day collateral - and told a story of celebration and achievement rather than hardship.
Process
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Concept Development and Brand Identity
Developed the creative concept and visual identity for the festival, built to represent five distinct communities under one cohesive brand without erasing their individual identities - including a 6-foot-wide event banner as one of the festival's key physical brand touchpoints.
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Narrative Strategy
Set the Joy/Leadership/Culture framing as the festival's core narrative, deliberately moving away from trauma-centred storytelling. This decision shaped the tone and content of every asset produced.
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Sponsor and Stakeholder Materials
Designed the sponsor prospectus and supporting materials used to secure SSI as Gold Sponsor, alongside VIP invitations for the Governor-General, NSW Minister for Women and Federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs.
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Digital Presence and Advertising
Built the event registration page and ran digital advertising across Meta to drive awareness and sign-ups ahead of the event.
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On-the-Day Collateral
Designed flyers, on-the-day programs and presentation materials for the event itself, maintaining the brand identity and narrative framing across every physical and digital touchpoint attendees and guests encountered.
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Experience Design and Event Delivery
Managed venue styling, technical production and supplier relationships to bring the creative concept into physical space, alongside the event's runsheet, budget and social media plan - overseeing full end-to-end delivery on the day at Bowman Hall, Blacktown.
Results
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Delivered a full-day festival at Bowman Hall, Blacktown, drawing 250+ attendees representing 50+ cultural backgrounds from 75+ suburbs, well beyond the Blacktown catchment the event was based in.
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Secured SSI as Gold Sponsor, and the event was attended by the MP for Liverpool, Charishma Kaliyanda (on behalf of the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns), the MP for Blacktown, Stephen Bali, and the Member for Granville and Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts, Julia Finn, as well as local councillors.
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Reach and turnout came directly from the strength of the creative, digital advertising and stakeholder relationships, not press or media coverage.
