Midsumma

Midsumma Festival, Melbourne's annual gay and lesbian festival, is a federation of arts and cultural events spread over six municipalities and located in over 60 different venues across Melbourne. Midsumma is presented over three weeks and four weekends from mid January to February, and now in its 19th year, Midsumma Festival is a significant attraction on the Melbourne festival calendar.

Midsumma Festival brings together a diverse mix of artists and performers under a single umbrella for an impassioned celebration and innovative presentation of queer art and culture. The Midsumma Festival program is made up of a wide range of events and activities including visual art, theatre, spoken word, cabaret, film, live music, sport and social and political forums and debates. Each year Midsumma produces to two signature "bookend events" for the first and final days of Midsumma, to celebrate the opening and closing of the Festival.

Offering a diverse, exciting and relevant program, the Midsumma Festival continues to attract a broad and ever evolving audience to Melbourne and Victoria. Each year over 100,000 individuals across Melbourne and Australia participate in and attend Midsumma Festival events. Midsumma is presently concentrated over five inner city municipal councils across Melbourne: City of Melbourne, City of Stonnington, City of Yarra, City of Moreland and the City of Port Phillip.

Growing in popularity each year, Midsumma is positioned and identified globally as one of the top five gay and lesbian arts and cultural festivals, along with New York, San Francisco, Vancouver and Singapore. As such, Midsumma serves to identify Melbourne as a culturally sophisticated city and strengthens Melbourne's national and international profile as an artistically vibrant and invigorated city.

Midsumma Festival Inc is a not-for-profit association, comprising of two full time office staff, governed by a volunteer Board of Management which is elected by membership. The Board directs all aspects of the Festival working with permanent staff and contractors, and a volunteer base of over 50.