LGBTQIA+ Festivals
Australia's LGBTQIA+ Festival Circuit
Have you thought about touring your Midsumma show? Australia's circuit of quality LGBTQIA+ festivals provides a unique opportunity to tour the country. It's also a great opportunity for audiences to travel while sampling a diverse and eclectic range of events along the way. Volunteering for the various festivals is a great way to make new friends too!
Bendigo Pride Festival (Vic): 14-19 Apr 2026
The inaugural Bendigo Pride Festival was planned for 2020, but those plans were thwarted by COVID-19! The forerunner of the pride festival was the Bendigo Queer Film Festival, which was founded in 2004 by Chris Walters in collaboration with the Melbourne Queer Film Festival (who were major supporters). The film festival now runs as part of the pride festival.
ChillOut Festival (Daylesford) (Vic): 4-8 Mar 2027
Held on the Labour Day Weekend in early March, the ChillOut Festival in Daylesford, one hour north of Melbourne, is one of the largest and longest-running Queer Pride events in regional Australia.
Coastal Twist Festival (NSW): 30 Sep-5 Oct 2026
Central Coast NSW’s good vibes, all out LGBTIQA+ inclusion festival. This dynamic festival embodies authentic inclusion of all peoples. 75mins from Sydney, 90mins from Newcastle.
Feast Festival (SA): 1-22 Nov 2026
Feast has grown since 1997 from a community arts festival for the lesbian and gay community in Adelaide to become a major event on the festival calendar in South Australia.
Frolic Festival (Vic): Pride Month: 1-30 June 2026
Frolic is a not-for-profit festival run by a small team of like-minded Ballaratians who want to support and show off the wonderful diversity of the region – and have lots of fun doing it.
Gaytimes Festival (Vic): 21-23 Mar 2025 ("on pause" for 2026)
The camping music festival of your big gay dreams - at Gembrook, in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.
Geelong Pride Film Festival (Vic): 30 Apr-10 May 2026
A family friendly festival of LGBTQI films, normally screening at The Pivotonian Cinema and Platform Arts, Geelong.
Hot & Steamy Festival (Qld): June 2027
The Hot & Steamy Festival of diversity and inclusion was held annually in Port Douglas since 2020, and now they're hitting the road in 2026 with the Hot & Steamy Australian Pride Tour, starting with Hot and Steamy as part of Midsumma Festival 2026, before making the Gold Coast its permanent home from 2027.
Leeton Pride Festival (NSW): 13-15 June 2025
Leeton Pride Festival is a charity dedicated to celebrating and supporting the queer community and its allies. They strive to create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The festival is biennial.
Melbourne Queer Film Festival (Vic): 12-22 Nov 2026
Held twice per annum, in Autumn and again in November, MQFF is the largest and longest running queer film festival in Australia, screening the best Australian and International queer films, shorts and documentaries.
Midsumma Festival (Vic): 17 Jan-7 Feb 2027
Midsumma has been Melbourne's annual Queer Celebration since 1988 - with a smorgasbord of queer arts and cultural events spread over more than 100 different venues throughout Melbourne and Regional Victoria.
Newcastle Pride (NSW): 9-24 Oct 2026
The Newcastle Pride Festival is an exciting, glamorous and “out n’ proud” series of events that aims to showcase to locals and visitors that Newcastle is a city of diversity, culture and beauty. Newcastle Pride is an inclusive, vibrant and fun not-for-profit LGBTIQ+ community-based organisation.
Out in the Open (Vic): 6-20 Nov 2026
OUTintheOPEN is Shepparton's newest festival celebrating community diversity. It was developed to address some of the inequalities faced by the local gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (GLBTIQ) & allied communities and to build a more inclusive community in Greater Shepparton.
Perth Pride (WA): 8-28 Nov 2026
Pride Western Australia is WA's largest community group, representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex community. Originally incorporated in 1993, its roots go back to the 1989 march on Parliament. PrideFest kicks off with a Parade and Celebration in November.
QTOPIA Sydney Pride Fest (NSW): 1-30 Jun 2026
Pride Fest is Qtopia Sydney's flagship festival — it is a month full of theatre, drag, cabaret, comedy, panel discussions, workshops and more held at the world's largest Centre for Queer History and Culture. QTOPIA has programming on every night of June.
Southern HiBearnation (Vic): 6-14 Jun 2026
Kicking off from the Queen's Birthday Weekend in June, VicBears Southern Hibearnation brings together bears and their buddies from all over the planet for the largest and friendliest bear FUNdraising event in the South!
Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras (NSW): 20 Feb-7 Mar 2027
SGLMG has existed since 1978 primarily for the benefit of Sydney's LGBTQI community, the enjoyment of a wider audience and as a global beacon of diversity, acceptance and LGBTQI rights. It includes the iconic Parade and the Queer Screen queer film festival.
TasPride Festival (Tas): 30 Jan-28 Feb 2026
TasPride began in 1992 and continue to be dedicated to celebrating, uniting and promoting the Tasmanian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer community, through providing opportunities for everyone to come together and share our pride.
tilde film festival (Vic): Check their website for event dates
Established in 2014, tilde is a community-based, international film festival based in Melbourne, and one of a handful of trans and gender diverse (TGD) film festivals in the world.
Top End Pride (NT): 18-21 June 2026
Since 1985, Darwin's pride festival has celebrated the Top End’s diverse LGBTQIA+ communities through artistic expression and cultural celebration by creating, producing, and showcasing artistic works that reflect and empower our community.
Tropical Fruits (Lismore, NSW): Late Dec - early Jan annually: 30 Dec 2026-2 Jan 2027
Established in 1988, Tropical Fruits Inc. is the premier GLBTI community group of the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. They hold regular events throughout the year. The NYE Festival is a four-day celebration of the GLBTI community, with a CBD Parade, NYE Party, Pool Party and Recovery Party.
Our Allies
In addition, a number of other Australian festivals are extremely queer-friendly. For example:
Adelaide Fringe (SA): 19 Feb-21 Mar 2027
The Adelaide Fringe Festival is Australia's answer to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Melbourne Fringe Festival (Vic): 29 Sep-18 Oct 2026
Every year a number of shows 'tour' between Midsumma and the Melbourne Fringe.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival: 24 Mar-18 Apr 2027
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, one of the three largest comedy festivals in the world alongside Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival, always has a plethora of queer performers and queer-themed events.
Melbourne International Film Festival: 6-23 Aug 2026
MIFF is a not-for-profit organisation that has been continuously running since 1952, making it the leading film festival in Australia and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin.
Melbourne Writers Festival: 7-10 May 2026
The Melbourne Writers Festival is one of the reasons that Melbourne has been declared a Unesco City of Literature.
Next Wave Festival: various times
Next Wave is the most comprehensive platform in Australia for a new generation of artists taking creative risks.
St Kilda Film Festival: 4-14 Jun 2026
The St Kilda Film Festival supports the Australian film industry by turning the spotlight on a wide range of fascinating short film works that may not otherwise see the light of day.
Vic NAIDOC: 5-12 Jul 2026
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Vic NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements.
Yirramboi Festival: May 2027
YIRRAMBOI Festival is Australia's premier First Nations arts and cultural event.
If planning on travelling overseas, or around Australia, check out our LGBTQI Festivals around the world blog page.
