FusionFest: Celebrating Our Cultural Differences

About the Program

Category: Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

FusionFest is an annual festival which celebrates the people and many cultures that make Central Florida awesome. We organize weekly and monthly, both virtual and in-person, events that keep the community engaged and connected to the cultural diversity in Central Florida. We participate in parades and create dining experiences and workshops from January to November. Our signature event on Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving Day in Downtown Orlando is a free, two-day, festival that draws people from more than 110 different cultures to experience music, dance, food, visual arts, spoken word, games and interactive activities. FusionFest has grown immensely since the first festival in 2018, with 8,000 people in attendance. The 2019 festival held about 15,000 people, and in 2020 FusionFest was able to persevere and hold a safe, distanced festival for the public. Our monthly Diversitastic! Dining events offer patrons a chance to immerse themselves into exploring the tastes, sights, sounds and mindsets of another part of the world. Patrons leave learning about a new culture they might not have otherwise gotten to experience, and always walk away happy and full. Our events allow the community to learn about others who might be different from them, which in turn will help us all to build a strong Central Florida culture and community together.