Midsumma announces dates for its 30th Festival

Allison Bennett Virtual Drag 2016In 2017, Melbourne’s iconic arts and culture festival, Midsumma Festival, will be in its 30th year of operations. Melbourne should expect a bigger and louder federation of arts that encompass all aspects of the DSG community.

Kicking off with the ever popular Midsumma Carnival and T Dance at Alexandra Gardens, the 2017 Festival will run from Sunday 15 January – Sunday 05 February.

“Our core focus leading into our 30th year is a reinvigoration of our arts program,” John Caldwell, Chairman of Midsumma. We want to create a world class multidimensional arts program bigger than anything we have done before. In order to grow the arts component of our festival in both quality and quantity we need to reach out to a much wider audience and invite a more diverse range of members of the DGS community to participate.”.

Alongside Carnival and T Dance, individuals and organisations can once again show their pride as they march down St Kilda’s Fitzroy Street during Pride March on Sunday 29 January.

For the third consecutive year Midsumma will be producing another exciting and experimental late-night event at Testing Grounds, bringing together ‘Waacking’ groups and abstract performance arts to activate an open space within Melbourne’s CBD.

The lucky winner of the guide cover competition will be featured on the Midsumma new-look 2017 program guide which will launch in late November. Midsumma will also be announcing its new CEO in the coming weeks to help drive the festival to success for the next 30 years.

The Midsumma Festival involves many months, and even years, of planning with many milestones and deadlines occurring throughout the year. There are many opportunities for you to be involved, either as a volunteer; as an event producer, artist or performer; marching at Pride March; or being a spectator or participant in the diverse range of events held as part of the festival.

The 2017 Midsumma Festival runs Sunday 15 January – Sunday 5 February. For more information, visit: www.midsumma.org.au for details.

Image: Virtual Drag 2016 – photo by Allison Bennett (courtesy of Midsumma)