Midsumma Festival is a celebration ofLGBTQIA+ arts and cultures held annually for 22 days over January and February inMelbourne, Australia.

Midsumma Festival
Carnival crowd at Alexandra Garden 2010
Genre	LGBT festival
Location(s)	Melbourne,Australia
Founded	1989
Website	www.midsumma.org.au

The festival began as a one-week celebration ofLGBTQIA+ pride in 1989.

In 1988, the members of the Melbourne lesbian community started organising the first Lesbian Festival in Australia. Smaller groups were established to organise a variety of exhibitions, sports days, theatre events, a market, and a Lesbian Film Festival. The inaugural Lesbian Festival was held from 10 until 20 January 1990. A number of events and exhibitions were held at theFootscray Community Arts Centre, and the Standing Strong music concert was held at theDallas Brooks Hall, featuringJudy Small,Mahinārangi Tocker from New Zealand,Deborah Cheetham, American singer-songwriterAlix Dobkin, and others.Indigenous Australian playwrightEva Johnson's specially commissioned playWhat Do They Call Me?^[1] was directed by Venetia Guillot and performed by Johnson^[2] at theGuild Theatre at theUniversity of Melbourne. Films at the Lesbian Film Festival at the Grierson Theatre and theState Film Centre (now ACMI). The Lesbian Conference was held at Melbourne University between 26 and 29 January, attended by more than 1000 women. Spaces forKoori and migrant women were provided, and overA$5,000 was raised for the Aboriginal Community Elders Services to help fund a new care facility for Aboriginal Elders inBrunswick East.^[1] Films shown there were not censored.^[3] The 1991 a Lesbian Conference took place atUniversity of Technology Sydney in July of that year, with festival events at various locations around Sydney.^[4] In 1992, a third festival was planned for around a month late in the year, beginning onInternational Lesbian Day and ending onMelbourne Cup Day.^[5]

Although the primary festival is held in the summer, Midsumma works year-round to provide artists,social changers, and culture makers with support and tools to create, present, and promote their work. Midsumma is an open-access festival. The program is made up of diverse art forms and genres, including visual arts, live music, theatre, spoken word, cabaret, film, parties, sport, social events, and public forums

Midsumma's visual arts program features exhibitions in and around Melbourne from local, national and international LGBTQIA+ artists. The festival's performing arts program includes musicals, theatre,cabaret, film, spoken word, music events, and dance parties, largely produced by local community members.

The festival attracts over 240,000 people each year.

Midsumma Carnival is held during the event's opening weekend and is traditionally held at theAlexandra Gardens. The main stage includes entertainment from the upcoming festival program to showcase and promote later events. The day is brought to a close with the T Dance, a dance party organised by Midsumma.

The majority of Midsumma Festival events are within the umbrella events program, which are created, produced and funded by independent third parties who pay fees for inclusion in the Midsumma Festival.

In 2022 and 2023 there were approximately 200 events, which included programming for arts education, a pride march, all ages street party, photo competition^[6] and carnival events.^[7][8]

Midsumma Festival Inc. is an incorporated association, chaired by Judy Small. Karen Bryant is CEO.^{[when?][citation needed]}.

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  Midsumma Pride March 2022
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  Midsumma Pride March 2022 Port Phillip group
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  Pride marchers wearing face masks at Midsumma 2022
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  Midsumma Pride march participants 2009
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  Midsumma Carnival 2010
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  2010
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  Adam Love at Midsumma
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  Drag in 2010 Midsumma

• List of LGBT events
• Australian Queer Archives holds archival material relating to the Midsumma Festival

• Official website