2026 Midsumma Carnival Artists

London West End’s star of Ride the Cyclone, Mean Girls the Musical and S!X the Musical, Baylie Carson returns to Melbourne with an all new celebratory tale of their journey through queer identity. During Midsumma you can see Baylie at Chapel Off Chapel in Baylie Carson: Queer Is A Battlefield.

Betsy Mae is a multi-talented draglesque queen known for her costuming skills and powerhouse vocals. You may have caught Betsy in Debutante or Soft Bodies at Pride of Our Footscray, Chubby, Ferel, Tassel Thursday, Cherry On Top, Hoedown Showdown, Open Stage or Thursgay. She won the Cxntess award at Thursgay's pride pageant in 2024, was a finalist in Apprentease 2025 and is the current reigning Altimate Showdown Naarm champion!

Caroline is a Freelance Artist and Consultant at Caroline Bowditch Collaborations and works as CEO at Arts Access Victoria. In collaboration with Laura Hook, Caroline has created the 2026 Midsumma event Love Love Love Love Love Love.

Cerulean is one of Naarm/Melbourne’s most dynamic and vibrant conceptual performers bringing a refreshing cloud of excitement and pleasure to the stage. As the reigning winner of the national Miss First Nation pageant in 2021 and the Supreme Queen pageant at Sydney World Pride 2023, she is set to propel her way into shaping the future of drag. With over 6 years of drag under her belt, she’s performed and hosted at various festivals, clubs and community events around the nation. As a visionary performer, you can expect her to deliver compelling stories through exceptionally fierce and entertaining drag performances that will leave audiences salivating for more. See Cerulean in Blak & Fabulous.

Adore Händel, Penelope Splendour and Mae B. Wilde fling feathers, flesh, and foolishness in equal measure, serving up a variety show that’s stripped back and entirely uncooked. See Chookas at the Victorian Pride Centre during Midsumma.

Chris Demos is a co-host of Grouse Comedy (at Grouse Melbourne), while both Chris and Bianka appeared in Friends of Comedy at The Setts, Mildura as part of the Regional Activation Program.

Clepto Nymph is a like a y2k barbie but with a side of goth for good balance.  They love to spend their free time mimicking human behaviour devouring cis man souls and long walks on the beach. Other interests involve styling wigs and pretending they have metal stability. Clepto Nymph will be representing Motherless Collective for Midsumma Carnival! You can see Clepto in MoCo: Summer Break at The Motley Bauhaus.

Dandrogyny (aka Daniel Newell) is a physical theatre practitioner, maker, performance artist, educator and graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. Cat-walking the fine-eyeliner of the pop cultural and political, Daniel's work can be defined as creatively chaotic and cathartic, often outing itself as homo-erratic.

Three divas. One stage. And a lifetime of love affairs with music, men and mystery. They’ve danced through romances both excellent and questionable, asked the big-ass questions, feigned normality, freaked out their families and flirted with enlightenment... through over 100 musicals. See them in Darling Divaz @ The Motley Bauhaus: 19-25 Jan.

Frock Hudson (aka Dean Arcuri) needs no introduction to Midsumma audiences! He will be hosting the Lip Sync Limelight on the Picnic Stage. You can catch him during Midsumma at Bangers, Beers & Bears: Princess and Villains, either at the Pride of Our Footscray Community Bar or at Mollies Disco Diner.

Beji (Benji Wald) is a local Ballroom scene DJ from Naarm.
Benji AKA beji is a Naarm based DJ and Music Producer who is known for his unique music taste. With his extensive music knowledge and ability to traverse multiple genres, Benji’s commitment for diverse music in the street dance community is what drives his passion. Whether you are keen to get down to a funky track, a throwback 2000s BOP or even Kpop, Benji has got you covered. Benji has made active contributions and engagements within the street dance and ballroom community and is keen to continue his contributions for both dance and music going into the future.

Carrie is a queer AFAB radio presenter and DJ with a knack for blending the lush, the danceable and the emotive into hot, fun dancefloor moments. They bring melodic house vibes with spacious mixing and plenty of room to enjoy the ride. Expect to discover new favourites during her set.

Hi-Energy Punk Disco Queen Gaff E is unapologetic in her bodily animal energy, as infamous as she is dedicated to colour and femme vibrance. Gaff E loves intimate surroundings of your typical or more obscure discoteques and has enthralled audiences with her cosmic disco magic at renowned parties and festivals world wide for many MANY moons. Gaff E thrives on sharing her luscious performances and happy music to connect people with their true silly selves and ultimate freedom.

JACK POPPER has been involved in the Melbourne queer disco scene for many years organising, promoting and DJing at Bendy Rainbow, co-promoting Piu Disco; and creating his own parties Decadance and Night Moves. With DJ partner The D Word, he forms the b2b duo Prim and Popper. Specialising in timeless, uplifting sounds; Jack plays a range of funk, soul, disco, house, deep house and a dab of new wave / indie dance ~ from all eras.

MzRizk—Lebanese-Australian DJ, broadcaster, event producer, and cultural curator—is a powerhouse shaping Melbourne’s dynamic music and arts scene. With a self-taught foundation and an innate talent for genre-fluid storytelling, her sound traverses house, disco, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and Arabic music. Renowned for her community-first ethos, she’s built a career amplifying marginalised voices, earning respect as one of Melbourne’s most versatile selectors and cultural visionaries.

Djirri Djirri are the only Wurundjeri female dance group, and are Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) and surrounds. Djirri Djirri means Willy Wagtail in Woiwurrung. They will perform the Welcome to Country. You can check out their upcoming events on their Facebook page.

Cabaret drag legend Dolly Diamond needs no introduction to Midsumma audiences! In 2026 she's starring in She Slayed: A Drag Murder Mystery at the Victorian Pride Centre and Queer Comedy Gala at Pride of Our Footscray.

A selection of some of Naarm’s finest drag kings, Bruno Salsicce, Randy Roy, Johnny Gash and Pip Stachio combine to bring you fabulous expressions of masculinity. Except gender-bending chaos and stone-cold sexiness. Get ready for the kings to reign down.

Em Chandler (she/her) is a proud trans storyteller and theatre-maker primarily working in Naarm, previously based in Ballarat. With over a decade of experience working with kids and their adults, Emma adores connecting with others through kindness and wonder. She brings her unique repertoire of spells, stories and songs to every situation - from community events to major festivals such as Firelight and Midsumma. In 2023, she was cast in Lemony S Puppet Theatre’s CROW KID for its Australian and international premieres. Having worked with acclaimed theatre-makers Anthony Crowley, Alister Smith, and A Blanck Canvas, Em’s show Once Upon a Rhyme won Best Children’s Show at the Melbourne Magic Festival (2024). The Age describes her as "pure enchantment". She can be found in the Midsumma 2026 events Fractured Fairytales and See You in the Soup!

Established in 1884, Expression Australia is a not-for-profit organisation created by and for the Deaf Community. We empower people who are Deaf, hard of hearing to overcome barriers in their life and choose how they want to live.

A wild fusion of dance, circus, burlesque and live acts set to a pumping 90s house soundtrack. Expect jaw dropping talent, bold performances, fierce choreography and the nostalgic beats of your favourite club anthems. With no seats and no barriers, you become part of the action in a glitter soaked explosion of joy. Catch them in FREAK OUT! THE AFTERPARTY at the Spiegel Haus.

The Ironing Maidens are a multi-arts performance project based in Gimuy (Cairns), QLD, whose practice is shaped by queer feminist and posthuman frameworks. Blending electronic music, projection, movement, humour, and live performance, they create works that reimagine the everyday and make space for playful, critical, and speculative futures. Previous projects include Electro House Wife, A Soap Opera, and their latest work, Hot & Heavy. Since their debut, The Ironing Maidens have toured nationally and internationally for more than a decade, performing everywhere from Splendour in the Grass to Fusion Festival (Germany), the Berlin Performance Art Festival, and in laundromats across regional Queensland and New South Wales. 

Transforming the city into a vibrant tropical paradise, the Hot and Steamy event, featuring Kween Kong, promises electrifying performances, infectious rhythms, and a community united by Happiness, Love, and Respect.

The oh-so-DI-LICIOUS House of DIESEL teams up with Thorne Harbour Health for a Ballroom night like no other in HOUSE OF DIESEL | THH - VOGUE NIGHT. Returning to their home at Miscellania, this iconic Ballroom event provides a space for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, Trans and Queer bodies and voices to be at the forefront, celebrating community, resilience, and energy on the runway.

You can catch House of Furia during Midsimma in Kiki House of Furia Presents - The Fantasy Ball at State Library Victoria on 24 Jan. The Fantasy Ball at State Library Victoria brings Ballroom and voguing culture into the grand surrounds of Queen’s Hall, hosted by Founding Mother Angel Furia and the House of Furia.

HRTthrob is the all-trans boy band of your DREAMS. This all singing, all dancing, live music T-boy spectacular offers up a huge party filled with boy band bangers, girl group hits, and songs to scream along to at the top of your lungs, all in a key we can finally hit. HRTthrob is Backstreet Boys meets Nikki Webster meets Jonas Brothers meets the duty nurse at the clinic on Tuesday for their T shot. HRTthrob had hearts racing at Melbourne Fringe Festival in October, and now you can see them at Midsumma Carnival, performing on the Picnic Stage and judging the Lip Sync Limelight. HRTthrob are Florian Wild, Han Arbuthnott and Eddie Pattison.

Jake DuPree (they/them) is an international burlesque performer and fitness instructor/host, originally from Newport, Arkansas. They became the first non-binary person to perform at the iconic Crazy Horse in Paris. They made their Hollywood Bowl debut performing in Kinky Boots! They made their burlesque debut in Dita Von Teese’s Von Follies show doing her famous martini glass act. They have been a featured act in Fantasma Circus Erotica at the Folies Bergére and Théâtre des Variétés in Paris. They recently finished their Las Vegas residency performing as an opening act for Kylie Minogue and Christina Aguilera’s shows at the Voltaire Theatre in the Venetian. They have also headlined shows at the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre in Paris, the Wintergarten Varieté in Berlin, The Windmill Soho in London, Blackpool Tower Ballroom in England, and at the Grand Electric in Sydney, Australia. You can catch Jake in Late Night Vice.

Broadway’s greatest hits explode in a glittering high-camp spectacular as award-winning cabaret diva Skank Sinatra shimmies into the spotlight with powerhouse vocals, biting comedy, and lashings of showgirl charm. See them in Skank Sinatra: The Name On Everybody's Lips.

From Sydney to London to San Francisco, Joelby pumps out big vocals, euphoric beats, and unstoppable energy. The creator of Joelby’s Vocal House podcast, he turns every event into a hands‑in‑the‑air celebration of pure house music joy.

Kelly Brodie-Brown is a picture book author who grew up in the UK and moved to Melbourne after meeting her Australian wife. They now live in the western suburbs with their four-year-old daughter and malodorous dog. 

She has always enjoyed writing in rhyme and has a long history of making up novelty songs for people’s birthdays, usually unsolicited. 

Kelly’s glorious debut picture book, The Style Secrets of Gareth McGreen, was published in 2025 by Scholastic Australia, and she has three more books scheduled for release with Scholastic in 2026 /2027.

Winner Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under Season 1. From NZ and heading across the dicth for a special appearance at Carnival 2026.

Mama Alto is a jazz singer, cabaret artiste and gender transcendent diva. Her Midsumma cabaret performance, Mama Alto: Transcendent is on at Melbourne Recital Centre January 29, 30 and 31.

Image credit: Photographer Maya Britbart Ellazam

Melbourne Pride Chorus, a pioneering LGBTQIA+ choir in the southern hemisphere since its inception in 1990, is driven by a commitment to musical excellence, unity, and the celebration of diversity through music. The chorus has grown both in size and momentum, serving as a supportive and inclusive community for its members. Its repertoire reflects the fun-loving, vibrant spirit of the community while embracing a wide range of musical styles. The Melbourne Pride Chorus sings to celebrate Pride, Joy, and the creativity of the queer community.

The Melbourne Rainbow Band is a community/non-profit concert band providing an opportunity for musicians to develop their musical abilities in an environment free of prejudice and discrimination, and to promote the LGBTQIA+ community to the wider population.

At the centre of the Venn diagram of queer, chunky, brown women with the voice of a goddamn angel, you’ll find the terrifying talent that is Milo Hartill. You can catch Milo during Midsumma in Milo Hartill: Black, Fat and F**gy at Chapel Off Chapel.

Sassy, honest, queer women over 50, irreverently feminist, exploring smart cabaret comedy as the Apocalypse approaches. Gabrielle Griffin & Simone O'Brien are Mutton: consummate multi-disciplinary performers, with decades of touring with Circus Oz, Club Swing, and Legs on the Wall between them, sprinkling witty banter between dodgy covers and original songs, adult puppetry, and political satire.

Nick Cheers returns to host the popular Dog Show on the Picnic Stage from 3pm. Register your furry child prior to 2:30pm on the day at the Picnic Info Tent (located in front of the Picnic Stage).

Nic's Tip: Register early to avoid the queue later!

As a musician they specialise in hardcore, metal, grunge, and punk arrangements on piano. Piano Punk is performing their one-person show PiaNu-Metal at The Meat Market on 29-31 January: a show about the genre of Nu-Metal and the gender politics of masculinity in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Representing Pride of our Footscray are four of our incredible resident drag queens - Gloss, The Birthday Girl, Tilly Capulet, and Cerulean! Pride of our Footscray is part nightclub, part theatre, and full of heart. Located in the rambunctious western suburbs, Pride captures the joy and diversity of the area perfectly and will have you believing anything is possible. 

Rainbow Families Switchboard are supporting family programming in several Midsumma 2026 events: Fractured Fairytales, Mural of Me, Rainbow Storytime and See You in the Soup!.

Robert Baxter is a versatile artist who transitioned from creating beats in their rural hometown to becoming a dynamic force in Naarm's music scene. With a genre-blending style and a background in dance and modelling, Robert's high-energy shows have established them as one of Australia's rising talents. Their debut EP, you wouldn’t expect cupid to cry, earned widespread acclaim, supported by Triple J, Rage, and FBi Radio.

Ruby Slippers lives by the motto that you’re either Dorothy, or you’re the twister, and she’s one hell of a technicolour cyclone. She’s campy yet vampy, a clown-in-a-gown, burlesque supervillain and drag disruptor, not to mention a serial name-dropper. She’s shared the stage with Amanda Lepore, Melanie C, Brooke Candy, Pabllo Vittar, The Boulet Brothers and Boy George, and Michelle Visage has called her work “incredible”. See Ruby in Bent Burlesque 2026. Photo by Mark Gambino.

After a sold out Melbourne Fringe Festival debut, Samuel Roberts returns to his roots in F.A.A.G: Footballers Are A Godsend. This one hour comedy cabaret is an absolute screamer with original songs and stories of a young queer man's life in country football. After a couple of years on the pine, there has never been a better time to see this blinder of a show.

The star forward, Samuel Roberts, is a comedian, songwriter and performer in Naarm/Melbourne. He has spent the last three years performing his shows in various festivals across Australia. He also hosts and performs in Super Troupers Live - The Abba Party. The coach of the season is Wes Snelling - award winning writer, director, performance-maker and titan of the industry.

Scarlett, SO Hung Son 蘇葒珊 aka Lady So Hung.

Scotty So is a Melbourne based artist who works across media, using painting, photography, sculptures, site-responsive installation, videos and drag performance. You'll find them during Midsumma at Gasworks in the exhibition Queer Reckoning.

An Australian Drag King icon since the late 90s, Sexy Galexy helped redefine what Kings could be—camp, dazzling, meticulously constructed, and absolutely unforgettable. Back when Kings weren’t even supposed to be invited to the party, Sexy was building legendary club nights that put Kings and Queens on the same stage long before diversity became the hottest accessory in nightlife. Now a full-force DJ, Sexy brings that same trailblazing energy to the decks, delivering electric, joy-fuelled sets that turn every dancefloor into a queer celebration.

Tomáš veritably shimmers with charisma, and reveals their talent not only as a storyteller, but a multi-instrumentalist and a superstar-in-the-making in the Midsumma 2026 show, Sugar. Pop hits from Kylie to Chappell Roan pack this electric cabaret about luxury, power, and being paid to have sex on a grand piano.

Vincent Hooper is an Australian performer, director, songwriter, and cabaret artist known for his versatility across musical theatre, large-scale productions, and original creative work. A WAAPA Music Theatre graduate, he has built a career that spans national tours, acclaimed cabaret shows, and major commercial productions.