Victoria's Pride - Melbourne & Regions
Melbourne Pride 2022. Photo by Nikki Russian Photography.
This page offers some background to Victoria's Pride and its history. The most recent Victoria's Pride Street Party was held on Sunday 11 February 2024.
For information about the street party, follow the link: Victoria's Pride Street Party
If you are looking to participate as a Trader in the next Victoria's Pride, please visit the info for Traders page.
If you are looking to participate as part of the Regional Activation Program, please visit the RAP page.
LGBTQIA+ celebrations to showcase Victoria's Pride
A landmark program of pride events and projects returns to Victoria each year as part of a statewide celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities.
The annual event named Victoria’s Pride (previously Melbourne Pride) will be held across the state for at least four years to support and celebrate our rainbow communities.
Victoria’s Pride kicks off in November with a series of regional activities, culminating in a one-day street party in Melbourne’s iconic Gertrude and Smith Street precinct on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people, from 11.00am to 9.00pm as the closing event of Midsumma Festival. It includes multiple stages with free, live entertainment including music, comedy, guest speakers, circus, drag and art installations. Performing artists are announced ahead of the event.
The event provides an opportunity for people across the state to demonstrate their pride in and support for LGBTQIA+ communities, as well as for LGBTQIA+ people to connect with one another and feel represented.
Victoria’s Pride builds on the success of Melbourne Pride, a state-wide event held across the 2021-22 summer to mark more than 40 years since the decriminalisation of sex between men in Victoria.
Midsumma delivers Victoria’s Pride in partnership with the Victorian Government.
The program of regional events will be determined through a Regional Activation Program run by Midsumma, which will provide funding of up to $15k per project to support arts and culture projects which showcase regionally based LGBTIQ+ artists and highlight regional LGBTIQ+ voices and stories.
If you are a trader in the event precinct, please visit our Trader Info page.
Victoria's Pride Street Party
On the last day of Midsumma Festival, Melbourne’s iconic Gertrude and Smith Streets are transformed into an extravagant street party – with two live music stages and performances from musicians and artists – to celebrate Victoria’s diverse LGBTQIA+ communities.
Victoria's Pride Regional Events
To ensure statewide representation of LGBTQIA+ arts and cultures, Victoria's Pride commissions community groups, organisations and artists in regional Victoria to facilitate involvement in Victoria's Pride event activities, either in the lead-up to or on the day of the Victoria's Pride one-day street party.
Victoria's Pride Street Party FAQs
Victoria's Pride a statewide event and official programming on the event outdoor stages is committed to highlighting local based talent alongside interstate and international guests.
Midsumma encourages all the fabulous LGBTQIA+ venues in the Yarra precinct to be involved and mark this momentous occasion. There is no need to officially register to participate or run an aligned event, but conversation about how support can best be provided is welcome and Midsumma will assist with promoting aligned venues and activities.
Midsumma will not be running bars or selling alcohol and temporary food services will be kept to a minimum, with a focus on complimentary support. Attendees will be encouraged to explore local food and beverage traders throughout the day.
Midsumma have engaged a professional Cleaning and Waste Management Company. Waste management staff will ensure that facilities are regularly cleaned and sanitized, waste is promptly removed and garden areas are kept tidy.
Additional rubbish bins, toilets and hand washing facilities will be on site for operations and removed once the event has concluded.
Temporary food services and single-use items will be kept to a minimum, as attendees will be encouraged to explore and support local food and beverage traders throughout the day.
Road closures will be in place for Victoria's Pride Street Party to prioritise pedestrian traffic and safety.
Midsumma’s professional risk management consultants and traffic management team have designed a comprehensive Traffic Management Plan that has been reviewed and approved by the Yarra City Council.
Traffic Controllers will be positioned in key areas of the precinct to allow for smooth flow of local traffic and to provide information at road closures.
More information about road closures and traffic management will be available on the website closer to the event.
Midsumma have contracted public event security specialists to oversee and manage crowd behaviour at Victoria's Pride Street Party. Event personnel, including staff, volunteers and First Aid professionals will assist in monitoring.
In addition to this, a dedicated and central Event Operations Centre with representatives from Midsumma, Yarra City Council, Emergency Services, Public Transport Victoria, First Aid, Traffic management controllers and Victoria Police will be in place, and will maintain constant radio contact with all event staff on the ground.
Victoria Police have a presence at Victoria's Pride, as with all Victoria's large-scale events, organised protests and parades, police officers are present as part of the event permit. The event permit requires Vic Pol to be present to monitor external threats or any situation that may become unsafe for event attendees.
Midsumma works with Vic Pol to encourage officers at these events to be LLO LGBTIQ+ Liaison Officers.
Victoria Police has over 450 LGBITQ+ liaison officers (LLOs), serving as contact points for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer community.
Find out what LLO responsibilities are.
To get in contact with an LLO, speak to a police officer at your local police station.
Midsumma respects the Yarra City Council’s commitment to provide a liveable, supportive
environment for all of its residents. The event will comply with policies regulating all noise affecting public places, either by its nature or volume. The site plan has been curated to ensure that generated noise is funnelled towards the audience and away from residencies. Stage announcements will request attendees to leave in a quiet and orderly manner.
The location and event style of Victoria's Pride is an initiative of the State Government of Victoria and was announced by the Premier and relevant Minister.
Midsumma recognises the strong historical and significant part that LGBTQIA+ operated and aligned businesses and events in the Yarra area must play in the broader scope of Melbourne’s queer histories.
Victoria's Pride has the capacity to not only support and celebrate our artists, creative industries, and diverse communities, but also generate significant economic benefits to the Yarra area and its local businesses, particularly relevant after the hardships experienced through lengthy pauses in trade.
The live street party event is part of a broader Statewide group of events commemorating the significance of the year.
Melbourne Pride 2022: Celebrating 40 years - A Road To Pride
The event showcased live performances, music, circus, keynote speakers, activities, community stalls and interactive demonstrations. This event had a significant state-wide impact with live-streaming and pre-recorded content to allow people to engage from home. Street trader engagement is one of the key objectives of the event and local businesses will be open to trade as part of the event.
Melbourne Pride made an opportunity for LGBTQIA+ Victorians and our wider community to come together after a challenging period that has exacerbated challenges some LGBTQIA+ people were facing before this pandemic, including isolation.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Victoria, we take the opportunity to acknowledge the courage and resilience of our LGBTQIA+ community. Melbourne Pride has commemorated the event in a contemporary exploration of festivities, Melbourne Pride embarked on a journey of equality through inspirational arts, community involvement, food, and culture.
Melbourne Pride Livestream
Melbourne Pride commemorated the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Victoria, featuring a series of activities across regional Victoria and a one-day street party event in Melbourne’s inner north - as well as digital online programming that complemented the extensive live offerings.
This stream showcased the state-wide commemorations of PRIDE on this date – commemorating the 40th anniversary of decriminalisation of homosexuality in Victoria. A particular highlight is footage of a wide range of regional activations/projects from across Victoria within this digital online event. Please contact us if you would like to view the livestream for research purposes.
Looking for something else?
