Midsumma Festival 2025 Invites Audiences to Celebrate Collective Identity(s) this Summer With About 200 Events Celebrating the LGBTQIA+ Community!
Midsumma, Australia’s premier LGBTQIA+ Arts Organisation has announced the 2025 festival program. This Summer Midsumma will present a jam-packed calendar with about 200 events celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community across Naarm/Melbourne and regional Victoria. The State will come alive with theatre, music, visual arts, cabaret, public forums and more, celebrating the festival theme COLLECTIVE IDENTITY(S).
This year’s theme invites audiences to reflect on how we can foster true connection across all diverse LGBTQIA+ communities and intersections. COLLECTIVE IDENTITY(S) includes all ages, identities, cultures, faiths, geographical locations, and disabilities in an age marked by digital overload, fleeting interactions and emotional separation.
“At Midsumma Festival 2025, we invite our communities to ‘call people in together’ rather than call them out,” said Karen Bryant, Chief Executive and Creative Director of Midsumma Festival. “This is a celebration of diversity, creativity, and collective strength, reminding us of the power of shared stories and experiences regardless of difference. Together, we can dance with many diverse bodies, sing with many diverse voices, and hold space for us all.”
The 2025 festival will include the 30-year celebration of the iconic Pride March in Victoria – a landmark moment in the history of LGBTQIA+ arts and culture. The historical moment is a testament to three decades of resilience, unity, and collective progress. The event will be held on Sunday 2 February as thousands will march through the streets of St Kilda in a sea of colour and pride honouring a shared history and vision of equality and inclusion.
Midsumma signature events will return in 2025. These key events include Midsumma Carnival and Victoria’s Pride with a Street Party and the Regional Activation Program, both in partnership with the Victorian State Government. Midsumma Carnival will present a free, all-day celebration at Alexandra Gardens on Sunday 19 January while Victoria’s Pride Street Party will transform Fitzroy’s Gertrude and Smith Street Precinct into a dynamic celebration of queer arts and culture on Sunday 9 February.
The partnership will also proudly present the Regional Activation Program with 14 new regionally commissioned projects. Castlemaine, Beechworth and Mildura kicked off the program this November with more works to be presented in Horsham, Bendigo, Goulburn Valley, Geelong, Wangaratta, Murray River, Warragul, Warrnambool and Indigo Shire. These activations will bring vibrant performances, exhibitions, and storytelling to regional communities, ensuring that the spirit of Midsumma resonates statewide whilst amplifying diverse voices.
Program highlights include the Olivier Award-nominated play Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen presented at Arts Centre Melbourne, Thirty-Six, at fortyfivedownstairs by Bullet Heart Club and directed by Kitan Petkovski, Truth to Power Café the international award-winning performance combining film, poetry and music at Theatre Works, A Body at Work, Frankie Van Kan’sintimate theatrical exploration of queer sex work, motherhood, and creative self-expression at Theatre Works and Small Acts of Resistance, Women’s Circus returning with a new work at Gasworks Arts Park.
Midsumma Festival 2025 promises to be a transformative celebration of storytelling, creativity, and community. Join Midsumma Festival 2025 from 19 January to 9 February 2025, for an unforgettable journey of connection and collective strength.
