Mardi Gras to split parade and party
The Mardi Gras parade and official after-party will be held on different weekends in 2010.
Next year’s parade will be held on February 27, while the party will be held on March 6. Fair Day will be held on 21 February and Harbour Party on 28 February.
The festival will also be cut back to two weeks.
New Mardi Gras CEO Anna McInerney said the decision to split the parade and party was an evolutionary one.
We’ve looked at how other major festival-type events are produced around the world and one of the clear lessons is that they run as a series of parties, she said in an official statement.
Rio and New Orleans are not just a single parade Â-” though they have that as their core. They encompass many small parades and parties and go on for days. That is what we want to bring to Sydney at Mardi Gras and in particular that final week.
The 2010 season theme, Mardi Gras’ History of the World, will be an exploration of gay people’s stories through the ages and a queer take on some of the great moments and figures of history.
Festival executive producer Danielle Harvey said the decision to further cut the festival back, now to two weeks, was also based on other international events.
A review of major arts festivals around the world showed they were typically two-week festivals, she said.
By moving to two weeks we will be able to create a much more impactful experience for both local and international audiences.
NMG chair David Imrie said the changes to the festival would continue to make it one of the best in the world.
Mardi Gras has already evolved out of all recognition from the 1978 march to become a major arts festival, party promoter and world-famous event, he said.
This would not have been possible without flexibility and creativity in how we program. A good example was the move to a summer parade. If that hadn’t happened the event would never have grown to the stature it has.
Have your say: Should the parade and party be held on different weekends?
Vote now in our online poll.
My mum said if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything … be nice.
Great – another rogue board doing whatever they want without the consultation of the gay and lesbian community. What do i pay membership fees for?? Mardi Gras almost died a few years back. It looks as though this will be the first of many nails in the coffin. Perhaps our membership fees could have been used to hire a hall and have a community vote/forum and then make a decision. Opening up the Sydney Morning Herald this morning to find it splashed in the paper about the change was very poor form. You can count me out next year – and also my membership.
I hope the board wakes up and realises that this is a comomunity organisation!!!!! wNKERS
Great – another rogue board doing whatever they want without the consultation of the gay and lesbian community. What do i pay membership fees for?? Mardi Gras almost died a few years back. It looks as though this will be the first of many nails in the coffin. Perhaps our membership fees could have been used to hire a hall and have a community vote/forum and then make a decision. Opening up the Sydney Morning Herald this morning to find it splashed in the paper about the change was very poor form. You can count me out next year – and also my membership.
I hope the board wakes up and realises that this is a comomunity organisation!!!!! w**NKERS
Jason 1 2 3 4 – Ive got better things to do.
The majority of people that will watch the parade now will be straight people – Gays arent really supportive of the community anymore, all we think about is drugs and going to the gym. Its funny, we once where fighting to keep Oxford st friendly and more gay – now that you have done this, mardigras is going to be the most dangerous night (double now)
Why do pill poping junkies get to make big decisions in the commmunity?..
Miranda, just with youre comment “Are you jelouse”? – Very immature,lame with no meaning – Just like the decision from MardiGras.
Are you happy now Jason?
There’s more than one of us on the world you know …. and as if anyone can tell one from the other one here anyway ..
I reckon a lot of people will pick one or the other – there is no way they will go to both.
And let’s face it, the parade is pretty straight and commercial these days (geesh, even IKEA is allowed to have a float – what have they ever done for the sydney gay community except take money from queens with no taste!)
So who cares really …. I’d suggest going and finding something else to do on both weekends.
Visit your mother – I’m sure she would appreciate it.
I think there is a positive and a negative side to this.
On the positive, at least the parade volunteers will be able to enjoy the party.
On the negative side, I can see there are going to be a lot of people spending an entire wekk – if not two – on some kind of illegal substance and that can’t be good.
Grow up Justin ……
Seems everyone has opinion …. my suggestion is shut up, wait and see what it is like and then make your comments.
What a surprise. This person is telling gay men they cant celebrate THEIR parade and party on the same night, I mean look at the ration of gay men to Lesbians that will be there and I think you will see we out number them 100 to 1. Come on boys stand up for yourselves, its your weekend dont lose it to the dykes.
Editor’s note: Justin, this really has nothing to do with gender. Mardi Gras is made up of a board of gay men and lesbians. It is the board that makes these decisions, not the CEO.
What a joke, do they expect all of us from interstate to fly to Sydney for 2 weekends in a row??? It will be parade or party this year not both.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve are a week apart and we all manage to cope then. Just a thought!
Dearest str8ty,
Mardi Gras is a celebration of the human spirit.
Your straight kind has the whole world 365 days per year and look at the conditions its in. At the end of the day gays don’t kill in Gods name, fly planes into buildings or denigrate women around the world just to feel secure.
We celebrate life and it’s diversity!!!
I fully support the new MG format for 2010.
It provides an opportunity to extend the excitement from a single day to two weeks.
It also prevents the conflict between parade and party as most people do not have the energy to do both.
Congratulations NMG for the courage and the vision!!
seems like the decision has lots of ramifications….I guess NMG have discussed much of them. Shame there wasn’t more community consultation….and I understand how pissed off actual members of NMG must feel not having a voice.
Personally, the division of party and parade is welcome for me. As a parade participant for the last three years there was no real energy to do the party after organising….standing around 4 hours waiting for the parade to begin.
I tried it one year and ended leaving after two hours to go home because i was exhausted. it was and expensive couple of hours.
Dear str8ty ….you obviously haven’t been on Oxford St on the weekend for years. https://starobserver.com.au/news/2008/08/27/more-steps-to-curb-homophobic-violence/1395
Gays and lesbians are not people who are violent and go around bashing people. You have that label all to yourself. Once again by posting here…..you are invading our space.
Jason – “Well it is good they are trying different things -¦ will wait and see how it works before I get on my soapbox”
– For the record I never said that, Could the other “Jason” who has just poped up today and started posting comments could they please use another user name like “Jason1” or “Jason2”. Thanks
C’mon people, lets give it a go and see what happens…
So when will the climax of the festival be? the Parade? the Harbour Party? or the After Party?
I think NMG have got this all backwards!!!
Well hopefully this will spell the end of the whole bloody festival …
Isn’t it enough you already have a street to yourselves every weekend?
Why do you need a fairy parade to tell everybody you break God’s law?
Oh Dear. How to alienate all the people coming to Sydney for Mardi Gras on the Atlantis Cruise. I would be pissed if I paid for my ticket to find that I was in Sydney on the wrong day.The ship is in Sydney on the 27th and 28th Feb. So they will now miss the Party. It appears it has sold out too. Not that easy to move dates on a ship!
All those consultations and I managed to miss every one??? I cannot believe that NMG has made such a major change to the nature of MG without due consultations with members…bring on the AGM I say
People, let’s look at this a little more objectively.
We all bitch, whinge and moan about Mardi Gras, about how it isn’t political enough, is too political, hasn’t changed, isn;t representative, is too expensive, too exhausting, blah blh, blah, blah, blah.
So New Mardi Gras have obviously heard this for years.
Now they decide to try something different and off we all go – bitch, whinge, moan ……
Is there any pleasing you lot?
My advice – let’s give it a go for 2010 and see how it works.
You never know, it may just be the greatest season we’ve ever had.
Of course, it may also be crap.
But until we try it we have no way of knowing.
I too am a long-time critic of Mardi Gras, and while this may not have been the solution I’d have offered, I am at least pleased to see they are attempting to do something a little different.
Great idea but can we also look at making the parade about an hour shorter, God it DRAGS on ( no pun intended ) !
Like some people have said “nothing ventured, nothing gained”, if the new format does not work, then at least NMG tried something different (and they can revert back to the old ways). I can guarantee there will be some promoter filling in the gap for an after party at the Hordern. BRING IT ON!!!!
hell there’s nothing duller that a smarty-pantsed homo. mardi gras history of the world is the perfect theme for 2010 as it will provide a vehicle for all the tragic bitter wannabe know-nothing nobodies to showcase their incredible lack of insight, compassion and knowledge. hopefully nmg will provide complimentary frosted mirrors to all self-obsessed judgemental drug-fuelled know-alls (ie the gay population of sydney) at the party so they can continue to feel unjustifiably pleased with themselves and their less-than-adequate appendages. meanwhile nmg can go from strength to strength knowing that they are supporting the commuity while milking it for all it’s worth. history of the world – gosh, how self idulgent, but how fitting for such a lame self obsessed community. separating the parade and party… even better. now those mincy little nobodies will have to buy two next-to-nothing costumes. i sincerely hope the good folk at nmg have shares in show-me-your-bits.clothing.com. if so then mardigras will never go broke again and all the little drug addicts of sydney will have some purpose at least one night each year. nmg, well done, you have proved once again that you truly do understand your constituency. see you under the mirror ball!
absolutely ridiculous.. what a money grab.. DISGRACE… that’s now 3 visits/3 fights to enjoy the parade/party and the brilliant (wouldn’t miss) Harbour Party (which was always the 2nd party of the season).
It’s ok if you live in Sydney – NOT ok if you have to travel, like MANY do.
So, gone are the nights, you can enjoy a parade with a vast variety of friends, and then proudly walk in the direction of Fox Studios for the best party of the year…
The area after the parade is already full with those not going to the after party – can someone tell me where you plan to accommodate another 20,000, not to mention the volunteers that will be looking for a party afterwards?
Disgrace…
Can the Mardi Gras Board be serious in proposing such a huge change without any meaningful consultation with members? Who do they think they are? When is the AGM … or can we hold a special meeting?
Well, I hear KordaMentha has already put out the 2011 theme: Insolvency!