The year is rolling on, and registrations to march at Midsumma Pride March 2024 are now open (closing on 27 Nov). You can also vote for your favourite #AllAboard tram design for the tram that will be part of the 2024 Pride March!
We have some wonderful giveaways on offer, to the Melbourne Fringe show GODZ and the sublime French film Lie With Me.
If you’re a queer photographer or performance artist, take a look at the Midsumma Residency at The Round or our Photo Essay / Book Project.
And, check out the Flow Festival this weekend, Australia’s Deaf Arts festival created especially for established and emerging Deaf/Hard of Hearing artists.
And if you simply love great art, then check out SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels at Theatre Works and the Considering Matthew Shepard concert at the Alexander Theatre, Clayton.
Enjoy,
Midsumma
Header image: Bowie Ball 2023. Photo by Ximena Jiménez
REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN: MIDSUMMA PRIDE MARCH 2024
Join the spectacular act of unity that is Midsumma Pride March on Sunday 4 February 2024. It’s free to march, but to do so your group (or you) need to have registered by 27 November 2023. One of our signature events, Midsumma Pride March is likely to have over 10,000 marchers sashaying down Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, with over 45,000 people lining the streets and balconies along the march route showing their support.
The Midsumma Pride March Awards encourage colourful and innovative contributions from March participants and are judged by selected members of the community. At the conclusion of the march, attendees are led into Catani Gardens for celebrations and entertainment including DJs and live performances.
Registrations Close: 27 November 2023
Image: a former Midsumma Pride March by J Forsyth
MIDSUMMA AT THE ROUND
Are you a local LGBTQIA+ artist with a performance work you’d like to develop? Then you’re invited to apply for a Midsumma Residency opportunity at The Round, Whitehorse Rd, Nunawading.
The Midsumma Residency will offer two LGBTQIA+ performing artists or arts organisations in-kind venue hire of one of the creative studios for up to four weeks to facilitate rehearsal or development of a work, as well as in-kind venue hire for the Studio Theatre to facilitate up to two performances or public outcomes of that work. The residency also includes in-kind marketing support from The Round’s expert marketing team, as well as support and advice from the performing arts team.
CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD
Monash University Choral Society is presenting a performance of the deeply moving and beautiful choral work Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson in collaboration with Forest Collective at 7pm on 13 October. This is a fusion oratorio inspired by the 1998 murder of a young gay man in Wyoming – an intensely powerful and intimate work.
Find out more about the Concert or listen to an excerpt on YouTube. You can also donate to the ACF Fundraiser to help out the project, or book tickets to attend.
7pm Friday 13 October at Alexander Theatre, Clayton.
Image: by Ashley de Prazer
VOTE FOR THE NEXT PRIDE #AllAboard TRAM
Yarra Trams is inviting Victorians to have a say in its 2024 Pride Tram design.
Set to be unveiled in mid-December at the tram’s Home Depot in Melbourne, Victorians have until 29 September to choose which of five designs will wrap the Pride Tram.
Just in time for our 2024 Midsumma Pride March, the winning design will be wrapped around the Pride tram, with the artist receiving $5,000. The second-place design will be used to decorate a tram stop shelter near the Victorian Pride Centre, and the artist will win $3,000.
Voting Closes: Friday 29 September 2023
Imgae: the 2023 #AllAboard tram
WIN: “GODZ” Double Pass
This adults-only, jaw-dropping offering from the Head First Acrobats boys sees their unique mix of storytelling, circus, and physical prowess swell to godlike proportions. Expect a bodyssey of gravity-defying stunts, true tests of heroic strength and muscularity, and surprise comic twists.
To win a double-pass to the 7pm show of GODZ on Tuesday 3 October at Festival Park (The Vault) – Testing Grounds, Queen Vic Market, email enews@midsumma.org.au with the subject line GODZ.
GODZ: Melbourne Fringe 3-29 Oct
WIN: “LIE WITH ME” Double Pass
LIE WITH ME tells the story of a writer confronting the bittersweet memories of his first love. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the French Cognac region, Olivier Peyon’s adaptation of Besson’s autobiographical tale is a deeply touching and devastating exploration of regret and the power of luminous first love. Hi Gloss Entertainment is offering double passes for the film, being released in cinemas on 12 October.
To win an in-season double-pass, email enews@midsumma.org.au with the subject line LIE WITH ME.
Lie With Me: in-cinemas from 12 Oct
FLOW FESTIVAL – AUSTRALIA’S DEAF ARTS FESTIVAL
Flow Festival was founded in 2018 to provide a space for established and emerging Deaf/Hard of Hearing artists. This year it will be held at the Darebin Arts Centre, 401 Bell St, Preston on 16 and 17 September.
Midsumma is particularly excited about the Festival Finale PAHformance on Sunday 17 September, 5:30pm-7:30pm, as it is being directed by one of our Midsumma Pathways alumni, Sam Martin. The PAHformance will be hosted by the fabulous MCs Jodee Mundy and Andrew Wiltshire, who will guide you through an evening filled with joy, connection, and unforgettable moments, to close the festival.
SLUTNIK™ IS BACK!
Do you remember SLUTNIK™ from Midsumma Festival 2022? Well that queer theatre darling is returning with its highly anticipated sequel, SLUTNIK™ 2: Planet of the Incels, at Theatre Works, St Kilda.
One hundred years ago, a legendary crew of lesbian space cannibals triumphantly left Earth and all its problems behind. Today, their descendants (and MOTHERBOARD) are forced to emergency land their battered star-ship onto a foreign planet and come face-to-face with all the problems they thought they had left behind: Men.
Book Tickets: at Theatre Works until Saturday 17 September.
PHOTO ESSAY/BOOK PROJECT
Over the last year Midsumma has undertaken a photography-based project, celebrating the history of some of Melbourne’s most iconic queer performance venues and events, that have helped shape Victoria’s queer performing arts scene over the past few decades.
The project is being expanded to photo essays capturing the queer arts scene here in Melbourne (and a bit beyond), over the next 18 months with the view of a photo book being produced. Do you have a queer performance you would like considered? If so we would love to hear from you.
