Now in its second year, the Gold Coast’s Glitter Festival has become a nationally recognised arts festival that embraces and celebrates diversity, and encourages freedom of expression.
Presented by The Arts Centre Gold Coast, the Glitter Festival embodies unification and inclusion and celebrates this togetherness with flair of nostalgia, fun and honesty. It encompasses everything that is unique about our City and celebrates pride in an undefined way – a way that is distinctly Gold Coast.
The 2016 Glitter Festival offers an incredible program comprising of events, music, theatre, film and visual arts, containing an equal mix of earthy, raw and thought provoking content, juxtaposed by performances and events of total fabulousness! There truly is something for everyone!
“The branding of the Glitter Festival pays homage to the glory days of the true Glitter Strip – a time when freedom of expression in all its forms was not only encouraged but promoted,” said Festival and Programming Director Brad Rush. “People flocked to the Glitter Strip to soak up not only the sand, but its glitz, its glamour, its naughtiness and its welcoming space to be individual.”
“Fast track to the year 2016 – and the Gold Coast is a mature and progressive city, brave enough to look at itself socially and challenge its views on equality and acceptance.”
Whilst Glitter Festival embraces and celebrates the LGBTIQ+ community, its relevance is much deeper. With the current political and world climate, now more than ever there is a social responsibility to stand together as a unified community. The festival offers a safe, accepting and open platform to connect and allow people to be whoever they want to be without judgement.
Highlights of the 2016 Glitter Festival include:
Anthony Callea makes his Glitter debut celebrating the songs of a pop music icon backed by a six-piece live band in Ladies & Gentlemen, The Songs of George Michael, while acclaimed performer Trevor Ashley returns with I’m Every Woman – transforming into the world’s most legendary divas with the help of a smokin’ band, a cavalcade of smash hit songs and one extremely hard-working wind machine.
A sensitive and complex portrait of a restless generation that is in revolt against a seemingly heartless society, Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, Angels in America: Part One: Millennium Approaches plays the Gold Coast in a mosaic of stories, histories and characters that promise to touch and awaken.
A kaleidoscope of thought-provoking stories on coming out, eight actors playing 55 characters, in no less than 17 short plays, Wayne Tunks’ 24 Ways to Say I’m Gay provides an honest, stimulating and perceptive look at what it means to be gay.
Back by popular demand, be inspired by ordinary people sharing their LGBTIQ+ stories in There’s Something I Need to Tell You. Share your secrets, dreams, triumphs and stories inside a safe and welcoming space.
The Glitter Gallery will feature two exhibitions of work. Tyza Stewart – Multi Face uses self-portraiture to disrupt gender normative readings of their own life, while The World Outside is a fascinating new project paying tribute to the history of queer culture and entertainment on the Gold Coast by delving into the stories of the pioneering artists who dared to challenge the status quo.
Looking for an amazingly unique and outrageously fun day out? Look no further than a day trackside at the Glitter Race Day. Hosted by Glitter Festival favourites, Art Simone and Philmah Bocks, the girls have been tweaking their outfits and readying their ponies just in time for the start of the spring racing carnival and are set to deliver the best Race Day yet.
The 2016 Glitter Festival runs Thursday 6 October to Sunday 9 October. For more information and complete program, visit: www.theartscentregc.com.au for details.
Image: Art Simone, Brad Rush and Philmah Bocks – courtesy of The Arts Centre Gold Coast