Harmony requires us to resolve the unresolved

This month features Harmony Week (15 - 21 March) which coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The 2020 Welcoming Cities Symposium will also take place in this week.

Harmony begins with human connection. But for harmony to be more than a week in a calendar or a nice celebration we need to dig deeper. We need to be deliberate and we need to be willing to resolve that which remains unresolved.

At the forefront of Welcoming Australia’s theory of change is a recognition that cultural & linguistic diversity and social cohesion existed on this continent for millennia - long before tall ships stumbled upon the Eora Nation and what we now know as Sydney Harbour. Our ‘multicultural success story’ cannot exist in a vacuum and until we redress injustices, and support self-determination for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples - it’s difficult to conceive how we can ever truly move forward as a nation.

It’s why we’re excited to open the Symposium with a First Nations keynote delivered by Karen Mundine, CEO of Reconciliation Australia. It’s also why we position this work up front in the Welcoming Cities Standard.

This is not an either/or scenario. We should celebrate the significant contribution of people of all backgrounds to community life. And we should also strive to eliminate racism at all levels.

I hope to see you at the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra on March 18 and 19, where we will both celebrate what’s working and seek to further the conversation on how we can improve and change.

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Read more about the Artwork and Artist in the National Gallery of Australia collection.