Happy days

Sydney WorldPride has unveiled a festival line-up of more than 300 events as the world’s largest LGBTQIA+ celebration heads to Sydney this summer. The festival will open on Friday, February 24, with Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert at the Domain. Pop stars Charli XCX, Jessica Mauboy and Kylie Minogue will perform.

The huge festival covers 17 days of activities, with 30 official major events, 68 ‘curated WorldPride Arts experiences’, 17 sporting events and 192 ‘amplified community events’.

Many of the activities will take place in and around Darlinghurst and Paddington, including Queertography, an outdoor photographic art installation at Paddington Reservoir Gardens 'exploring LGBTQIA+ experiences caught on camera'.

UNSW Galleries on the corner of Greens Rd and Oxford St will also be participating, with The Party, an exhibition that 'celebrates LGBTQIA+ night-life and party culture in Sydney from 1973 to 2002'.

The exhibition, curated by José Da Silva and Nick Henderson, tracks the development of the dance party, from private home parties to larger productions in warehouses, including early Gay Liberation fundraisers, the influential Recreational Arts Team parties, Mardi Gras, Sleaze Ball, Sweatbox, Inquisition, Homo Eclectus and Sex and Sub Culture.

'The exhibition features documentation and ephemera from parties and venues alongside work by Australian artists, writers and designers engaging with these histories.'

The traditional Mardi Gras Parade will also return to Oxford St in 2023 after being run for the past few years at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The supercharged parade will run from Hyde Park to Moore Park, taking a revamped route up Oxford and Flinders streets. The theme for the parade is Gather, Dream, Amplify, with 'bigger floats, lights and fireworks shows to elevate the spectacle'.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras CEO Albert Kruger says WorldPride will be an enormous event for the gay community, and wider Sydney.

“Sydney WorldPride will be the biggest pride celebration Australia has ever seen,” he says. “The 17 days of jam-packed programming will spotlight our LGBTQIA+ communities and put Mardi Gras on the map globally, something that will create a lasting impact for the festival for years to come.

“Most exciting of all is the return to Oxford St for our 45th anniversary parade. It’s a special milestone year for us. We’re celebrating this milestone by introducing two new parade viewing areas so that spectators can enjoy extra comforts while cheering as the world’s most spectacular night-time parade passes by.”

The viewing areas will be on Flinders St; bookings are essential.

Sydney WorldPride

February 17-March 5

Mardi Gras Parade

Saturday, February 25

sydneyworldpride.com