Midsumma Festival 2023

Midsumma Festival is back! One of Melbourne’s biggest annual events on the LGBTQIA+ calendar, Midsumma brings our beautiful city to life with a three-week celebration of queer arts and culture.

The festival kicked off its heels this past weekend with the Midsumma Extravaganza at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Comedian Joel Creasey and Drag Race Down Under icon Kween Kong hosted a jam-packed night of comedians, drag shows, musical numbers and a star-studded tribute to Melbourne’s iconic drag mama Miss Candee. The party then continued on Sunday with the Midsumma Carnival at Alexandra Gardens – a full day of DJs, drag shows, popup bars, lip syncs, dog parades and even AUSLAN lessons. House of Fast Fashun also ran at the Gardens – an event run through the Midsumma X Ignite Melbourne program – which invited patrons to create haute couture outfits out of clothing and textile waste and then showcase their pieces on the runway streets of Melbourne.

What’s to come is proving to be even better. With over 200 events and 120 venues across the city, no one gets left behind. The festival serves up a plethora of queer realness – theatre, musicals, concerts, comedy, workshops, film, community events and drag shows (All-Star Drag Bingo Party! was a sold-out highlight in 2022 so don’t miss this one!). The festival has also introduced A Safe(R) Space. With an increase in intersectional tensions within diverse LGBTQIA+ communities, the program explores what we can define as a safe environment for emerging artists, and will showcase works from queer collaborators on all ends of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

Along with all the fabulous events running across Melbourne, the festival will be hosting more city celebrations. The Midsumma Pride March will run on February 5th on Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and will celebrate the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent of our queer community. Led by Boon Wurrung Elders, Rainbow Aboriginal Float and LGBTQIA+ youth, the march is the place to celebrate all gender expressions, sexualities, experiences, and personalities with colours, sparkle and style. It will then lead into another full day of entertainment on the shores of the St Kilda coast. The festivities will then head north to Collingwood on February 12th, with the Victoria’s Pride Street Party taking over Gertrude and Smith Street to wrap up the festival in style. Headlined by Keiynan Lonsdale (aka Rainbow Boy), Collingwood will be transformed into another jam-packed day of eleganza-extravaganza – more music, more drag, and more celebrations of our deeply diverse and beautiful LGBTQIA+ community.

Midsumma Festival runs from January 21 – February 12, and is a wonderful celebration of inclusivity, diversity and the embrace of all things queer. Most certainly not a read, but attendance is what? Fundamental. (No apologies on how much Drag Race I watch).

Midsumma Festival
January 21 – February 12 2023
Midsumma Festival Guide