By Hannah Francis
The past year has been an emotional for Australia's LGBTI community. The political hot potato of a plebiscite on marriage equality loomed large and then, unceremoniously, fizzled out. Manufactured outrage over the Safe Schools Coalition, which helps schools support queer kids, led Midsumma – Melbourne's largest LGBTI event – to pull its advertising from the Murdoch press and effectively ban them from the annual Pride march.
It's a frustrating climate in which to be celebrating the festival's milestone 30th year, but along with a new management team, program director Daniel Santangeli has an eye on the future and the young people making it.
Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat.Credit: Aaron Crocker
"It's important to look back the amazing past Midsumma has but also to look to the future, and make sure we're making space for some of those 'future-makers' in the queer scene," he says.
In the last few years Midsumma has consulted with youth organisation Minus 18, which provides counselling and support services for young LGBTI people.
Dolly Diamond.
"Attending a queer arts festival can be a very full-on experience for a young person," Santangeli says. "Particularly having to go into a highly visible environment, young queer people need additional support."
The three-week festival kicked off on Sunday with Carnival at the Alexandra Gardens – a showcase of dance, DJs, performance and festival teasers. There was a dedicated alcohol and drug-free space for young people, with Minus 18 social workers on the ground in a show of solidarity and visibility.
The Pride march, which happens this year on January 29 along Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, has been re-jigged so that Minus 18 and LGBTI youth will lead the pack. It's a wonderful show of strength after what has been, at times, a very trying year for young queer people.
"Young people marching will be able to turn around and see literally hundreds of other young people and go, 'I'm not alone, there are many other young people brave enough to be visible, so I can be as well'," Santangeli says. "It's a very powerful statement and symbol of social visibility."
The Queen of Ireland, Panti Bliss.
This year the festival is curated around three hubs: Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park; Hares & Hyenas in Fitzroy; and, for the first time, Arts Centre Melbourne, hosting a range of international acts. The spire will be lit up in the colours of the rainbow for the duration of the festival.
"I think it's really amazing that one of the state's largest cultural institutions is saying loud and proud that it's a space for all Victorians, and that it's accepting and inclusive," says Arts Centre's Midsumma programmer Daniel Clarke.
Beni Lola in Auto Bio Queen.
Our picks
Arts Centre
Every festival hub needs a great bar. The Barre has been decked out in glitter and flamingos as the Midsummer Festival Barre, with cabaret artist Dolly Diamond playing singalong show tunes on her piano and hosting festival guests every Monday evening. It's a good way to get a free taste of what's on at the festival if you missed Carnival. The Barre also hosts nightly DJ sets, post-show opening night drinks for Arts Centre shows, and the Kylie Minogue Super Fan Day (Saturday 21), with fans bringing their Kylie memorabilia and sharing stories. Pop into the free Kylie On Stage costume exhibition while you're there.
Picks from the Arts Centre performance program include Olivier Award-winning UK artist Ursula Martinez's Free Admission ("It's really something special and a Melbourne exclusive," says Clarke); and Irish drag performer Panti Bliss, whose 2014 speech on homophobia went viral ahead of Ireland's successful vote for marriage equality.
Yana Alana. Credit: Peter Leslie
For cabaret and drag newbies, Santangeli would "definitely recommend" musical theatre stitch-up A Night at the Musicals, starring Olivier Award-winning Le Gateau Chocolat and Jonny Woo, from London. "It's an incredible amount of fun," he says.
Gasworks
Gasworks Arts Park teams up with fringe festival-within-a-festival The Village. There's the Pink Pavillion, a giant inflatable rainbow, and a screening of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.
HardQueer DeathPony.
Program highlights include Beni Lola's Auto Bio Queen ("really refreshing" and "a new form of drag", says Santangeli); and So You Think You Can Interpretive Dance, where members of the public are invited to dress up, get up on stage and bust out their best off-the-cuff moves.
Hares & Hyenas
The Fitzroy venue and bookshop hosts the Hare Hole during Midsumma and celebrates its 25th year with a bang. The bar is open all day and all night, with an opening night party on Monday 15; birthday celebrations on Tuesday 16, with the launch of the Silver Threads podcast and visual arts exhibitions; and the Ball of Wax Midsumma Climax party on February 4, hosted by Mikey J White with cabaret favourite Yana Alana and more.
Pray Away Booth & Queerometer by Marc-O-Matic is part of QueerTech.io at Midsumma Horizon.
"It's definitely one of those places where emerging artists can find a real home and do whatever they like outside the 'gaystream'," says H&H's Crusader Hillis. Show highlights include Mikey J White's Animal; queer comedy cowboys Justice and Trainwreck Change History; and Jordan Rasokopoulos' Cheers, Big Queers!.
Elsewhere
For those looking for something even more left of field, check out HardQueer DeathPony. Described by creator Cam McLachlan as "everything all at once especially if it shouldn't work", the an all-trans show is presented by Phillip Adams BalletLab at its new South Melbourne venue, Temperance Hall. "[McLachlan] is a new choreographer who's making incredible work," Santangeli says.
Testing Grounds, behind the Arts Centre, hosts a range of boundary-pushing emerging artists and performers and is the venue for Midsumma's closing party on February 4. Don't miss new work from notorious vaginal knitter Casey Jenkins, and QueerTech.io, a selection of digital artworks happening via URL and IRL (in real life).