Midsumma

In 2008, Midsumma Festival celebrated its twentieth year with the theme of ARRIVAL.   An opportunity for our community to ask: where have we ARRIVED? how did we get here? and where to from here? Through performance, exhibition, interaction and participation, the 2008 program both asked and sought to answer these questions.  

As part of the 2008 Festival, Melbourne also played host to the 1st Asia Pacific Outgames:  an international gay and lesbian multisport event including a human rights conference and cultural program. As Host City Cultural Partner to the Outgames, our 2008 program was bursting at the seams. An amazing and diverse presentation of vibrant, inspiring, confronting and emotive works that showcased the finest local, interstate and international queer artists.   

Presented across five Festival Hubs and a plethora of other locations in and around Melbourne, Midsumma was more accessible than ever before. No matter who you are, what you wear, who you sleep with or who you vote for, the 2008 program offered the most extensive and diverse showcase of queer culture ever presented in Melbourne.   

Midsumma '08 audiences were again passionate, extensive and diverse. In recent years, Midsumma has successfully extended its reach and visibility beyond our own community into the wider Melbourne arts and mainstream communities. As a respected and globally recognised arts and cultural festival, Midsumma had excellent attendances again this Summer, with all Festival Hubs reporting exceptional attendances, extended seasons and sell out shows.

Many thanks to everyone who attended, and especially to the true stars of the Festival: the many hundreds of artists, poets, sculptors, photographers, performers, producers, techies, vocalists, directors, musicians, dancers, actors and authors as well as all those volunteers and organisers who together contributed to making Midsumma '08 one of the best ever.

In 2008, Midsumma Festival celebrated its twentieth year with the theme of ARRIVAL.   An opportunity for our community to ask: where have we ARRIVED? how did we get here? and where to from here? Through performance, exhibition, interaction and participation, the 2008 program both asked and sought to answer these questions.  

As part of the 2008 Festival, Melbourne also played host to the 1st Asia Pacific Outgames:  an international gay and lesbian multisport event including a human rights conference and cultural program. As Host City Cultural Partner to the Outgames, our 2008 program was bursting at the seams. An amazing and diverse presentation of vibrant, inspiring, confronting and emotive works that showcased the finest local, interstate and international queer artists.   

Presented across five Festival Hubs and a plethora of other locations in and around Melbourne, Midsumma was more accessible than ever before. No matter who you are, what you wear, who you sleep with or who you vote for, the 2008 program offered the most extensive and diverse showcase of queer culture ever presented in Melbourne.   

Midsumma '08 audiences were again passionate, extensive and diverse. In recent years, Midsumma has successfully extended its reach and visibility beyond our own community into the wider Melbourne arts and mainstream communities. As a respected and globally recognised arts and cultural festival, Midsumma had excellent attendances again this Summer, with all Festival Hubs reporting exceptional attendances, extended seasons and sell out shows.

Many thanks to everyone who attended, and especially to the true stars of the Festival: the many hundreds of artists, poets, sculptors, photographers, performers, producers, techies, vocalists, directors, musicians, dancers, actors and authors as well as all those volunteers and organisers who together contributed to making Midsumma '08 one of the best ever.