Show your colours at Sydney WorldPride
Image: Mardi Gras Parade. Image: Ann Marie Calihanna
Sydney WorldPride is shaping up to be the most spectacular LGBTQI+ cultural event ever held anywhere on the planet. Coinciding with the 45th Mardi Gras festival in February and March 2023, SWP will be an explosive celebration of community, art, and life.
The program is jam-packed with events encompassing every form of entertainment and suitable for all ages and tastes, levels of fitness, degrees of stamina, budget and wardrobe.
If you like your parties big, you’re in luck. There are huge outdoor events happening under the stars. The whole festival kicks off with Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert, starring our very own rainbow royalty, Kylie Minogue. Thousands will gather in The Domain for music, entertainment and witty banter from your hosts Casey Donovan and Courtney Act.
Final tickets are on sale now.
Put on your face and duckwalk over to the runway in the house for some realness. Sissy Ball is Australia’s biggest Vogue competition. It is fierce and it is happening right in the middle of the city at Sydney Town Hall.
If you prefer a different kind of salty then Bondi Beach Party is the ticket for you. This iconic bit of coast will host more glistening bodies than on a 40 degree New Year’s Day when thousands of queer partiers gather for what will truly be an event to remember.
Mardi Gras Fair Day is one of the oldest and most loved events in the festival. Every queer person in town – and their dogs – gathers in Victoria Park for the biggest family picnic of the year. Hundreds of stalls, bars, food, rides, competitions, big centre stage with massive entertainment. It’s the “if you only go to one thing’ event.
Rainbow Republic is the closing concert and another big extravaganza in The Domain. Exchange memories, laughs, tears and then dance the night away under the stars. Lots of great DJs and guest performers.
In between parties, give your feet a rest and let your eyes, ears and brain cells do some dancing. Embracing Shadows, in Campbelltown Arts Centre is a survey exhibition by Lismore-based Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens. Through her practice of collage, painting, installation, photography, film and poetry, Dickens tells personal stories of loss of triumph.
Hubris and Humiliation is a kind of gay Pride & Prejudice being presented by Sydney Theatre Company. Think iconic Aussie comedy (Muriel’s Wedding, Kath & Kim) but with Regency period wardrobe.
For a laugh a minute go all out at All Out Comedy. Join Coco Jumbo, Nath Valvo and Geraldine Hickey for a night of complete hilarity.
What’s better than a fit body clad in tight lycra? Any body wearing their colours with pride, doing what they love in friendly competition. Yes, we take our sport seriously but there are no soccer parents screaming from the sidelines. Queer sports is about being your best, enjoying the game and sharing the victory. The LGBTQI+ community loves to represent and we’ve got players in almost every sport you can think of: football, hockey, basketball, roller derby, kickball, water polo, ten-pin bowling, squash, swimming, boxing, running, wrestling and more.
You can be part of a club and compete or grab some pom poms and cheer on from the sidelines.
For the full Festival Guide visit SydneyWorldPride.com.
