Celebrating diverse journeys and communities, the inaugural Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl will present a spectacular line-up of live performance, comedy and music hosted at the iconic Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Friday 30 April and Saturday 1 May 2021.
Focusing on ‘the art of the possible’ this year Midsumma Festival has the unique opportunity to activate an iconic venue in an entirely new way. Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl will host a soirée of FREE queer live entertainment across the two nights, in the second week of the 17-day festival.
“As our cities, streets and venues have laid empty for so long we have come to realise the significance of ‘owning’ our cities through activations and the all-important sense of place we bring to them,” said Midsumma Festival CEO, Karen Bryant.
“I am thrilled that in this year our communities and artists will take over the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in a joyous smorgasbord of the very best queer performances on offer.”
With Sidney Myer Music Bowl transformed into a socially distanced and COVIDSafe space, Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl will bring together a diverse mix of LGBTQIA+ artists, performers, communities and audiences, premiering its FREE two-night extravaganza for 6,000 audiences members as part of Midsumma Festival 2021.
Free tickets to Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl will be released from 7.00pm on 18 March, following the Midsumma Festival 2021 program launch, with Midsumma subscribers granted pre-sale access on 16 March. The final tickets will be released on 9 April 2021.
The exciting line-up will be announced via the Midsumma Festival website from 18 March and is planned to feature a sensational stage of queer icons from across Australia. Each night will have the same line-up performing, giving Midsumma Festival audiences two opportunities to see the show.
The concert will also be live-streamed from the Midsumma Festival and Arts Centre Melbourne Facebook page, giving everyone the opportunity to see this premiere event, and to ensure that Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl is as accessible as possible for any audiences that may be vulnerable, regional or interstate, who want to be a part of the important connection that Midsumma Festival brings. The event will be Auslan interpreted as well as the livestream event assisted by captions.
The 2021 Midsumma Festival will take place from 19 April to 5 May – with the annual Midsumma Pride March taking place on Sunday 23 May. The full program of Midsumma Festival 2021 will be launched 18 March 2021. For more information, visit: www.midsumma.org.au for details.
Image: Midsumma Festival Live at the Bowl – artwork by XR Artist, Marc-O-Matic, 2021
Note: Due to requirements assessed by Midsumma Festival to meet current COVIDSafe government restrictions, the annual Midsumma Carnival will unfortunately not be going ahead this year!