Venue Registrations

Once you have an event registered at your venue you will receive:

• Listing in 35,000 printed Midsumma Festival Guides, distributed across Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney
• Promotion on midsumma.org.au through the registered event listing (346,692 users for the 2023 festival)
• Support from the Midsumma Festival team, including operational, artistic programming, ticketing and marketing advice
• Venue decal (optional) and access to Midsumma Festival branding

Remember: you will only be considered an official Midsumma Festival venue when you have a registered Midsumma Festival event booked in your venue.

All venues with events registered for Midsumma Festival must also register on Eventotron, our registration software. It's free to register!

PLEASE NOTE: even if your venue is already on Eventotron, you must complete some additional questions we have added for your venue, and request to be part of Midsumma Festival 2024.

Events cannot complete their registration without a venue, so it is essential that you register your venue on Eventotron ASAP. 

The final deadline for event registrations is Friday 1st September, so please register your venue by the end of July at the very latest to allow event producers to complete their registrations on time.

In order to register on Eventotron you will need:

• • Venue name
  • Address, council area
  • Public contact details for the website
  • Venue accessibility information
  • A brief description and image of your venue
  • Opening hours
  • Space name (if you have multiple spaces in your venue)
  • Space capacity
  • Space accessibility (new requirement for 2024)
  • Space image
  • Social media links (if applicable)

*if you have previously participated in Midsumma Festival, please check your venue information as new questions about your venue have been added to the Eventotron form for Midsumma Festival 2024.

Register for Midsumma Festival in 3 easy steps:
*If you have previously participated in Midsumma Festival, skip to step 2.

1. Sign up for Eventotron and register/re-register your venue. Need help? Read this help article on Eventotron. 

2. Once you have created your venue on Eventotron, ensure you have added it to a Festival/Season - Midsumma Festival 2024. Need help? Read this help article on Eventotron (about half way down under “Join a festival/season”)

3. Accept or reject applications for events. Read this article on Eventotron to find out how

Already registered with Eventotron? Great! Add your venue to Midsumma Festival 2024 and check your registration is up to date.

Confirming Events on Eventotron

As part of the registration process, events will need to be “Joined with a Venue” in order to proceed with their registration. You will need to manually accept applications to your venue to ensure Events can finalise their registrations. 

If you have already confirmed an event at your venue, keep an eye out for their application to Join your Venue on Eventotron.

Open to applications or expressions of interest? You can choose to make your event searchable in Eventotron. Producers can then message your venue to open a discussion - keep an eye out for messages. Need help? Read this help article on Eventotron. 

When it comes to booking artists and events, the most important thing to do is be proactive!

We encourage you to advertise through any available channels that you’re on the hunt for Midsumma Festival events. Post on your Facebook and Instagram, or send out an eNews, or even pop up a poster in your venue. You can also create an Expression of Interest form to make it easy for producers to apply to your venue. Midsumma can then share this through our social media channels and include the link on our website. 

Don't sit back and wait for artists to come to you, you can reach out to them also. Talk with artists that you think would be a great fit in your venue. Chat to anyone who already performs or exhibits at your venue. Get creative and start reaching out!

Another option to be involved in Midsumma is to register a show that you already run in your venue as a Midsumma event. If you run a weekly trivia night or a monthly open mic night, you can register it as a Midsumma Festival event as a way of increasing your audience.

Venue Finder

If you are open to applications and would like to advertise your venue, you can ask to be added to our Venue Finder page. After registering on Eventotron, please email [email protected] with the following information:

1. Venue Name
2. Short description
3. Capacity
4. Accessibility (for performers and audiences)
5. A link to an EOI form or an email address to contact. 

How to be more attractive to artists and events

• Do you have any marketing opportunities like social media, emails, notice boards or members to promote the Midsumma event to? Will you be able to make a booklet or brochure with all the events in your venue?
• Why not offer Midsumma Festival attendees a food or drink deal? View our Midsumma Marketing and Publicity Guide to get hot tips and a step-by-step on how to get your event the best exposure.
• Be clear about the style of events you would like to program. Having a strong curatorial vision attracts artists who are looking for the venue that suits them.
• It might also be worth considering what live-streaming or online ability your venue might have to make your events more accessible.

All ticketed Midsumma Festival events (free and priced) must have 100% of their event capacity sold through the Midsumma Festival ticketing system. Please email [email protected] if you would like to discuss ticketing. 

Door Sales

You'll need to work with the event producer to arrange a box office at the venue for door sales.

Tickets will go off-sale through the Midsumma Festival website one hour before your event start time, ready for you to start selling tickets at your venue.

If you need to change this arrangement, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Allocated Seating

There is no charge for allocated seating. However, we will need to work with you to build a seating map in the ticketing system, and this can take some time.

Unless otherwise notified, all events are built as general admission. To discuss building a seating map, email [email protected] before the event registration deadline on 1st September.

General admission is always easier for you to manage and for audiences to book, so we would only recommend allocated seating if you have to.

Inclusivity and diversity are at the heart of Midsumma Festival. As such, we're dedicated to making the festival accessible to audiences with disability.

Gender and Sexuality Inclusivity

Accessibility isn’t just about wheelchair ramps and Auslan interpreters. Although they are important - it’s also about attitude and language. At Midsumma, we actively encourage full diversity at events regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. 

For more ways to create an open and respectful environment at your event, read through Midsumma's Inclusive Language Guide. This document contains definitions, explanations and handy tips that are useful in avoiding making assumptions about a person’s gender or sexual orientation or using language that can cause offence. Download the Inclusive Language Guide >>

Accessible Bathrooms
What's on the bathroom door? We encourage you to use gender neutral signage on bathrooms to help trans and gender non-binary peoples feel more comfortable at your venue. Signs that advertise the facilities available, rather than describing the attendees, work best. You are free to download and use our signs: toilet, urinal or gender neutral and accessible toilet.

Wheelchair Access

Not all venues are wheelchair accessible. Read through the information below to ensure your venue is truly accessible to people using wheelchairs.

Access: Can a wheelchair user get into your venue? Entry should be 1.2m wide or more, and there shouldn't be steps.
Toilets: Is there an accessible bathroom? Make sure it isn't being used as a storage cupboard and doesn't require a key from venue staff.
Parking: Is there accessible parking or a wheelchair friendly drop-off point?
Free Movement: Does the venue have good internal movement circulation? Could someone in a wheelchair 1.2m wide easily manoeuvre inside? Are there steps inside the venue that would prevent a wheelchair user from fully participating in your event?
Signage: If your accessible entrance is not the main entrance, has the venue established good signage and way-finding for wheelchair users? 
Whether or not to include this icon will be determined by you when you register your venue in Eventotron.

Hearing Loop Services

Does your venue provide a hearing loop service? A hearing loop service is a hearing device that amplifies all on-stage audio for people who are hard-of-hearing.

Whether or not to include the Hearing Loop icon will be determined by you when you register your venue in Eventotron.

Accessible Sessions

Are you able to encourage or support event producers to put on additional accessible sessions, but not sure where to start? We have provided some information and resources below to help you get started. 

Accessible sessions provide services for a variety of access needs for events at your venue.

If you need some further information, please email [email protected] or call 03 9296 6600 and our friendly team would be happy to advise. 

Auslan Interpreted Sessions

Having an Auslan interpreter at events at your venue increases access for Deaf audience members. 

It's a great idea to book an Auslan Interpreter early - if the event is still in development, producers can send over information and scripts closer to the event date (usually around 2 weeks prior to the event). 

AUSLAN RESOURCES

Arts Access Australia

• Further information

Auslan Stage Left 

• Further information
• Book an interpreter

Captioned Sessions

Captions help make your event or venue more accessible for Deaf and Hard of hearing audiences. 

There are two types of captioning - open caption and closed captioning. Open captions are available all the time, such as on a video projection in an art gallery or surtitles at an opera. Closed captions are able to be switched on and off by the view, such as subtitles on online streaming services. 

Services available include AI captioning, which auto-captions live as you speak, such as on Zoom or subtitles on live television. Alternatively, if you can provide a script ahead of time (even a loose one), you can book live captioning for your event using a captioning service. This works well for comedy, theatre and musicals. 

CAPTIONING RESOURCES

Arts Access Australia

• Further information

AI Live

• Further information

AI Media

• Further information

Relaxed Sessions

Relaxed sessions are designed to benefit people with a range of access requirements, such as Autism, sensory sensitivities, anxiety and dementia. 

Adjustments to the event are made to provide a more relaxed environment, such as avoiding using strobe or bright lights, no loud or sudden sounds (such as gun shots) and allowing talking and moving around during the performance. 

RELAXED SESSION RESOURCES

Arts Centre Melbourne

• Relaxed Performances Guide

Touch Tours

Touch tours provide blind or low-vision audience  members with the opportunity to interact with and experience the physical elements of the event. This might be interacting with physical elements of the stage or venue, such as the set or costumes, and usually takes place before the event. 

TOUCH TOUR RESOURCES

Arts Access Australia

• Further information

Vitae Veritas

• Further information and contact

Audio Described Sessions

Audio description provides blind or low-vision audience members with descriptions and narrations of the visual elements and movements of the event and venue. 

This can be provided live through a service provider (such as Vitae Veritas) or via a pre-recorded file to be played before an event or visit to a venue. 

It can also be provided by ensuring your website and images are readable by screen-readers.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION RESOURCES

Arts Access Australia

• Further information on Audio Description

Vitae Veritas

• Further information and contact

Digital Sessions

If your venue has the facilities to record or live-stream events, this is a great way to offer an accessible event. 

Live-streams and on demand videos are available to view at home, and can also be captioned. This means that you can offer an alternative format for someone who cannot attend the event in person, or cannot access the event if the venue is not step-free.  

You can upload on demand or live-stream performances straight to YouTube, which audiences will be able to access after purchasing a ticket and at a specific date and time. 

Please email [email protected] if you'd like to know more about digital events. 

DIGITAL SESSION RESOURCES

Arts Access Australia

• How to get your art online

Registration deadlines and other key dates for Midsumma Festival 2024

• Monday 5 June 2023: Registrations Open
• Friday 1st September: Registrations Close 
• Monday 21 August 2023: Deadline to book Advertising in the Midsumma Printed Guide 
• Monday 16 October 2023: Venue Hire Agreement Due in Eventotron
• Tuesday 28th November: Program Launch: Midsumma Festival 2024

Midsumma's Major Events

• Midsumma Festival 2024: Sunday 21 January - Sunday 11 February 2024
• Midsumma Carnival: Sunday 21 January 2024
• Midsumma Pride March: Sunday 4 February 2024
• Victoria's Pride Street Party: Sunday 11 February 2024

Please get in contact if you are having difficulty reaching any of these timelines and we will work with you to find a solution.

If you have any questions or require assistance to complete the registration of your venue or to find out about artists and event opportunities, please email us at [email protected], phone 03 9296 6600 or fill out the Contact Us form, and one of our friendly staff members will help.

Looking to register an event?

• Head to our Event Registrations page.