Midsumma Festival 2023

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Midsumma Festival, takes place from the 22nd January to 12th February 2023.

Midsumma Festival’s program comprises a curated Midsumma Presents line-up plus the community-driven Open-Access stream, to share with you the lived experiences of those voices at the margins, the expression of queer history, and the celebration of new ideas and stories that come to life through world-class art and performance.

Our festival program is made up of diverse art forms and genres, including visual arts, live music, theatre, spoken word, cabaret, film, parties, sport, social events, and public forums. Featuring over 194 events in 2020, and 163 events in 2021 despite COVID-19 limitations, with involvement by over 5000 culture-makers in over 100 different venues across Melbourne and wider Victoria - to audiences averaging 255,202 attendees, each year, over the past four years.

Midsumma Carnival
22nd January
Midsumma Carnival highlights the opening weekend of the three-week Festival each year. Midsumma Carnival is an iconic outdoor celebration that has become one of the biggest highlights in the LGBTIQA+ annual calendar. The event provides a fitting opening to the festival each year. In itself, Carnival is a huge single-day event, usually running from 11am until 10pm in Alexandra Gardens in Melbourne’s CBD, with a massive set up and overall coordination required for delivery each year. 

Parade
5th February
Midsumma Pride March is one of our signature events, where over 7,400 marchers usually take to the streets down Fitzroy Street in St Kilda each year and over 45,000 people line the streets and balconies along the march route to show their support. 
Dykes on Bikes precede the marching contingent as per tradition, with the march itself led by Boon Wurrung Elders and a Rainbow Aboriginal Float along with the Premier of Victoria, Minister for Equality and the Creative Industries and Commissioner for Gender and Sexuality.