The City Council of Limassol promotes access to culture for the whole population with a broad programme of free events and activities. The City Council uses interculturalism as a criterion when allocating funds to associations and initiatives. Limassol also has a policy to facilitate and support cultural manifestations and organisations founded by migrants. These organisations can address the municipality through the Intercultural Council and obtain various benefits including logistic support. This was the case, for example, for the Vietnamese Festival in February 2019 and 2020 which enjoyed the participation of 7,000 participants of Vietnamese origin who are currently residing in the cities of Nicosia and Limassol. A number of art performances were performed by youth to the delight the watching crowds and an “Ao Dai”, a Vietnamese traditional long dress fashion show, fascinated the audience and created positive feeling towards Vietnamese culture.
The city regularly organises, co-organises, or supports intercultural festivals and other activities which encourage people from different ethnic backgrounds to interact. The “Musical Footprints” Festival held on the central Heroes Square has become a tradition. The initiative has a successful track of twelve years of intercultural dialogue and cooperation among organisations, third country nationals who live and work in Cyprus and the civil society of Limassol.
The free entrance Photography exhibition dedicated to the theme of interculturalism coincides with the International Migrants Day and is celebrated every December. The event aims to highlight the social, cultural, and economic contribution of immigrants to the local community. The Day of Europe is held at the open promenade area together with other intercultural events.
Regular public campaigns related to the cultural diversity and the living together, have been organised jointly by the Intercultural Council and the Municipal Council, as part of the city’s Intercultural Strategy 2018-2020. The representatives of the Intercultural Council are regularly invited to public discussions related to various municipal issues such as the creation of the Comprehensive Limassol Strategy and the City Innovation Strategy or for discussing the future of various urban developments.
