Gays Tip A Top Carnival
The Age
Friday January 21, 1994
A Melbourne-style mardi gras is launched. DANIELLE TALBOT reports.
VICTORIA'S gays and lesbians are known to throw the best warehouse parties but arts festivals are a more fledgling addition to the gay calender.
Midsumma, which begins today, is the local equivalent of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras _ minus the parade. It is also the time of year when Melbourne's gay community descends on St Kilda in even greater numbers than usual.
According to festival president Brenton Geyer, the biggest glitch in staging a community-based arts event is the need to raise fresh funds each and every year.
Midsumma is essentially self-funded but makes no profit. This year, the festival will be held on a budget of less than $10,000 plus donations while the annual carnival is tipped to turnover about $30,000.
In Sydney, the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has long been regarded as big business, earning more than the Melbourne Cup or the Grand Prix.
This makes it the most lucrative event in Australia, contributing more than $35million to the national economy largely through the proceeds of international tourism.
This fact is not lost on Midsumma organisers, who are planning to approach the corporate sector as part of their bid to expand the Melbourne festival into a multi-million dollar extravaganza in 1995.
The board will also be seeking a full-time coordinator as well as a permanent funding base.
``Considering the total budget, Midsumma is a strong, community-based major calender event. We do a lot on very little," Geyer said.
Geyer concedes that another big hurdle faced by organisers occurred when the Midsumma board was forced to postpone plans for a street parade along Commercial Road due to the competing demands of time and money.
``Despite the approval of Prahan Council, which was very warm to the idea, the estimated cost of staging the event was about $16,000 in council fees and we still had to obtain permission from other relevant authorities," he said.
``Time and money were against us this time. But as more funding trickles in, Melbourne's gay and lesbian community can only expect a bigger and better event plus the long-awaited parade."
Among this year's highlights is the Software VI theatre program, a series of new short works, (theatre, circus, dance and song) to be held over two weeks from 26 January to 9 February. This year's program features comedian Shirley Billing's account of her rural childhood, `Vivent Les Vaches' (Long Live the Cows); the drag-queen scientist, Grace Meristem and `Spare Rib'.
Other events include the Team Melbourne Swimming Carnival, the Midsumma Photography Show at the Malthouse, exhibitions by Juan Davila at Tolarno Galleries and the Hares and Hyenas bookshop and the Midsumma Carnival on 13 February.
© 1994 The Age