Midsumma Festival: 19 January – 09 February 2025
Midsumma Festival is Australia’s premier queer arts and cultural festival, bringing together a diverse mix of LGBTQIA+ artists, performers, communities and audiences. With a festival program 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.
Queerthenic (Kyneton): January – February 2025 (dates to be confirmed)
Queerthenic reveals authentic stories from Central Victorian LGBTQIA+ and gender diverse artists in this regional art prize. These stories delve into the mundane everyday, fabulous culture, or explore the influence of queer history and culture on their past, present, and future lives.
Midsumma Pride March: Sunday 2 February 2025
29 years ago, Melbourne’s LGBTQIA community took to the streets of St Kilda in a show of pride and solidarity. One of Midsumma’s signature events, Pride March features over 7,000 participants – with many thousands of people lining the march route to show their support.
Pride Fair Day (Wangaratta): February 2025 (date to be confirmed)
LINE Wangaratta brings you a fun-filled day of celebration at their Pride Fair Day. This family-friendly event is free to attend and offers something for everyone. Browse stalls from local businesses, community groups and organisations, and indulge in delicious food from a range of food trucks. Enjoy a great line-up of local musicians and performers as you celebrate pride with our community.
Ballarat Frolic Festival: February 2025 (date to be confirmed)
Ballarat Frolic Festival is an annual, not-for-profit, volunteer-run festival promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) regional arts and culture.
Victoria’s Pride: Sunday 9 February 2025
A landmark program of pride events and projects will return to Victoria this summer as part of a state-wide celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities. Victoria’s Pride will kick off in December with a series of regional activities, culminating in a one-day street party in Melbourne’s iconic Gertrude and Smith Street precinct on Sunday 9 February 2025 – more event details to come…
Geelong Rainbow Festival: February 2025 (date to be confirmed)
The Geelong Rainbow Festival is an opportunity for the local and surrounding Queer (LGBTIQA+) community to come together and unite as one! Three jam-packed days full of events, music and so much more!
St Kilda Festival: 15 & 16 February 2025**
Join Australia’s biggest FREE celebration of summer, showcasing Australian artists and talent against the spectacular natural beauty of the St Kilda foreshore. Held over two days in February, the St Kilda Festival routinely attracts over 400,000 attendees.
ChillOut Festival (Daylesford): 6 – 10 March 2025
From humble beginnings, ChillOut has grown to become the biggest and longest-running Country Queer Pride event in regional Australia. Now in its 29th year, ChillOut is recognised as a culturally important and nationally celebrated LGBTIQ pride event, supporting and representing Queer pride for all regional people.
Gaytimes Festival (Gembrook): 21 – 23 March 2025
Now in its 9th year, over two nights and three days, Gaytimes will feature an epic line-up of music, performance art, visual art, workshops and much more. Frolic in the forest you’ll never forget… Gaytimes is a boutique music, arts and camping festival for the whole lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and gender diverse community. It is a festival that welcomes all the colours of the rainbow, and their friends.
Bendigo Pride Festival: 27 – 30 March 2025
The Bendigo PRIDE Festival is a community initiated and run event that celebrates, explores and promotes diversity and inclusion within the Loddon Mallee Region with particular focus on LGBTIQA+ communities and people. Events include exhibitions, performances, Opening Night Party, Pride in the Park, and the Giant Pride Flag.
GLOBE Victorian Pride Awards: March 2025 (date to be confirmed)
Since 2014, the GLOBE Victorian Pride Awards has become an integral part of Victoria’s LGBTI community – celebrating achievement in Victoria’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex communities, highlighting the work of a diverse range of organisations and individuals that benefit and unite the Victorian LGBTI community.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival: 26 March – 20 April 2025**
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival literally takes over Australia’s comedy capital, Melbourne, each autumn with an enormous program of stand-up comedy, cabaret, theatre, street performance, film, television, radio and visual arts.
Castlemaine Pride Picnic: April 2025 (date to be confirmed)
Get your picnic blankets ready! Castlemaine Pride – Picnic in the park is back. Join us for a celebration of diversity & equality for all ages at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens (near the Tea Rooms). Along with the annual Picnic in the Park, there will be a number of LGBTIQ+ events held across Castlemaine and surrounds.
Geelong Pride Film Festival: 1 – 11 May 2025
Geelong Pride Film Festival is a non-profit community-run festival screening contemporary and classic LGBTIQ+ themed films in Geelong through an annual film festival and a series of special screenings and events.
South Side Festival: May 2025** (dates to be confirmed)
Discover Frankston like never before. Over ten days, the South Side Festival comes to life with fantastical experiences and will feature over 40 performances in venues across Frankston. Thought provoking performances, raucous comedy, dazzling installations, striking visual arts and fun for the whole family – that will delight, challenge and entertain!
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial: (Melbourne) – Sunday 18 May 2025 (date to be confirmed)
A day to commemorate, in unison with other memorials worldwide, and to raise HIV awareness and remember the friends and family we have lost to AIDS, along with all people who continue to live with HIV.
RISING Melbourne: June 2025** (dates to be confirmed)
RISING is music, food, art and culture, under moonlight, in the heart of Naarm (Melbourne). Across 12 nights, Melbourne will come alive with an array of free and family focussed events; transformative public art installations; large-scale performances; intimate works of theatre; dance that redefines the form; and a music program that traverses the globe.
St Kilda Film Festival: 5 – 15 June 2025**
St Kilda Film Festival provides the most comprehensive overview of the national short film industry, screening a diverse selection of short films from around the country alongside a rich program of international showcases, special screenings and events plus Australia’s largest free Filmmaker Development Program.
Southern HiBearnation: June 2025 (dates to be confirmed)
For more than 20 years bears from all over Australia, New Zealand and beyond have gathered in Melbourne for the biggest celebration of bear pride – Southern HiBearnation. Each year, Vic Bears put together a schedule of events for bears and their admirers to enjoy – from the big dance parties, to free films in the afternoon, hearty lunches, educational workshops and more.
Bendigo Queer Film Festival: 18 – 21 June 2025
The Bendigo Queer Film Festival provides cultural and artistic opportunities to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTI) people living in Central Victoria. The Festival attracts people from all over Victoria and interstate. We are proud to be one of the few regional centres Australia wide, which hosts its own queer film festival.
A Week of Leather: August 2025 (dates to be confirmed)
Over 7 days A Week of Leather (AWOL) celebrates the diversity of leather and fetish with the men who love it, live it and are it. It’s a week jam-packed with events, kicking off with Meet Market, and featuring two great parties – AWOL Jock Party (gear down) and HUSTLE – Commit to Kink (gear up). The week is rounded out with the Hand Jobs Art Exhibition, Eagle Sessions, High Shine, Kink Wars and Happy Ending.
Melbourne International Film Festival: 7 – 24 August 2025**
Presenting a curated global program of innovative screen experiences and the world’s largest showcase of exceptional Australian filmmaking, MIFF is an accessible, iconic cultural event that provides transformative experiences for audiences and filmmakers alike.
Festival of Australian Queer Theatre (Ballarat): August 2025 (dates to be confirmed)
A ground-breaking event that is set to revolutionise the Australian theatre landscape, the Festival of Australian Queer Theatre has announced that their inaugural season will take place in Ballarat in August 2024, bringing together leading artists and thinkers from the queer theatre community.
Emerging Writers’ Festival: September 2025** (dates to be confirmed)
The Emerging Writers’ Festival (EWF) is one of Australia’s most established and well-respected literary festivals. EWF exists to develop, nurture and promote Australia’s new writing talent, creating platforms for connecting writing communities and their audiences.
Melbourne Fringe: 30 September – 19 October 2025**
Melbourne Fringe transforms our city into a platform for every kind of artform imaginable, supporting over 3,000 artists to present 450+ works in 170+ venues to more than 360,000 people. Fringe celebrates freedom of artistic expression, taking voices from the margins and amplify them across the city – embracing risk through an un-curated festival which supports anyone to participate.
OUT in the OPEN Festival (Shepparton): 6 – 10 November 2024
In its 13th year, there’s something for everyone in this celebration of the LGBTIQA+ community including performances, dining experiences, education opportunities, tours and sharing all wrapped up in a fun festival experience
OUT in the OPEN Carnival Day (Shepparton): Saturday 9 November 2024
Celebrating LGBTI+ pride and community diversity, Carnival Day in Shepparton’s Queen’s Gardens is OUT in the OPEN’s big event. Wander through the stalls and markets; savour the smells and tastes of fresh local produce and home-made treats. There’s music, entertainment and information galore!
Transgender Day of Remembrance: Wednesday 20 November 2024
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
Melbourne Queer Film Festival: 14 – 24 November 2024
For more than 30 years, Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) has engaged the community to showcase the finest, contemporary queer cinema from Australia and beyond in the largest queer film festival in the Southern Hemisphere. The program encompasses Australian and International features, documentaries and shorts, including World Premieres, Australian Premieres, and Melbourne Premieres.
Drag’d Out Beechworth: Saturday 24 November 2024
Drag’d Out is a Queer, inclusive Festival of the Arts in the North East of Victoria. It celebrates all people within the LGBTQI+ community and their allies. The festival’s diversity will bring together people from all walks of life as a positive platform and safe space, enabling these cultures to explore themselves, educate audiences, and spread the love with entertainment.
Worlds Aids Day: Sunday 1 December 2024
World AIDS Day is held every year on December 1st. The first World AIDS Day took place in 1988. Thorne Harbour Health is now the foremost organisation in both Victoria and South Australia for campaigning on World AIDS Day, taking to the streets each year to raise funds and awareness.
Carols by Queerlight: Saturday 7 December 2024
Carols by Queerlight returns to St Kilda Town Hall for 2024 as the Melbourne Rainbow Band presents a fabulous night of celebration and festive entertainment for the DGS community. Join special guest vocalist Guillaume Gentil, host Cherry Charleston and our very own Carols By Queerlight Singers for a good old Christmas Sing-Along! Book tickets here!
Pride Cup
Pride Cup has grown into a national movement for change that transcends sport. Events are held throughout the year. Check the Pride Cup website for more details.
Melbourne Queer Games Festival:
Melbourne Queer Games Festival aims to inform, entertain and challenge LGBTIQ players by reflecting their lives in games. while bringing the best of world queer culture to Melbourne and enhance the reputation of Australian game developers.
If your festival or event is not listed above, and you would like to submit for consideration, please send an email to: reception@australianpridenetwork.com.au Your festival or event must be not-for-profit and primarily coordinated by those who identify as LGBTIQ. (Events organised by individuals or commercial entities will not be considered)
Image: Midsumma Pride March 2019 – photo by Suzanne Balding
Note: ** festival contains significant LGBTIQ content