Confluence Festival of India in Australia, the most significant exhibition of Indian arts and culture ever to be staged in Australia, will end with a special gala event on Tuesday, November 8 at Canberra Theatre Centre.

The gala will be hosted by His Excellency, Mr Navdeep Suri, High Commissioner of India in Australia in the presence of His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Her Excellency Lady Cosgrove.

The closing event of the Festival will be a gala cocktail reception followed by a signature performance of the classical Bharatanatyam dance by the renowned Kalakshetra Foundation of Chennai. They will perform a dance – theatre composition titled ‘Jatayu Moksham’ which captures a striking episode from the epic Ramayana.

Over three months, Confluence showcased world-class performers in a stunning and vibrant variety of India’s artistic cultures and traditions. Performances in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Alice Springs fostered mutual cultural connections, promoted tourism and migration and highlighted business opportunities between Australia and India.

A total of 72 events engaged audiences and built relationships that will endure long after the Festival is over. Confluence is one of the largest foreign cultural festivals to be organised in Australia and was broadcast throughout the country thanks to our media partner ABC.

Announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Australia in November 2014, the festival reflects the strong and positive bilateral relationship between Australia and India.

“Confluence represents a meeting point – of arts and artistes, of ideas and ideals, of cultures and civilisations. Like the waters of two rivers, they meet, share and imbibe from each other. That’s the focus of our festival, of the collaborations that it strives to promote. From the Opera House in Sydney to Federation Square in Melbourne, from QPAC in Brisbane to the Festival Centre in Adelaide, from the Old Parliament in Canberra to the State Theatre in Perth, the Festival of India has enthralled audiences, fostered collaborations between our artists and created cultural bonds like never before. As my wife Mani and I get ready to leave Australia for our next diplomatic assignment, we will look back at Confluence as one of the true highlights of our sojourn in Australia” High Commissioner of India in Australia, Navdeep Suri said.