“These are the days of our lives” sets the theme for this year’s OUTintheOPEN Festival highlighting both positive and negative interactions that the LGBTIQA+ community are faced with every day. Inspired by the Queen song of the same name, “These are the days of our lives” is a chance to reflect on what’s been, what’s now, and what’s to come, good or bad … all with the reminder to do it with love. This year we OUTintheOPEN is celebrating 12 years over 10 days.
Join us from the 10th – 19th November for a variety of diverse festival events, gatherings and experiences. Our main event, Carnival Day, is back in the Queens Gardens on Saturday November 18th, hosted by the fabulous Frock Hudson. Free for all of community to experience, Carnival Day includes market stalls to grab some pride merch, local inclusive organisations and businesses, activities for all ages, food trucks and our onsite, immersive Our Queer History Museum. Carnival Day also boasts an all-day line-up of live music from LGBTIQA+ artists and we are thrilled that Bec Sandridge will be headlining.
With 20+ events we are excited to invite you to ‘mask up’ in style this year for our opening night event, Masquerade at the Museum. Held on level four of our prestigious Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) overlooking the beautiful Victoria Park Lake at sunset, the event is sure to surprise and excite this year’s festival goers with entertainment, networking, and celebrations.
The Q+ Hub Pride Pop-Up brings an immersive mix of queer art, and will be part of Fryers Street Food Festival from 11am – 11pm on the corner of Edward/Corio Streets. Grab a drink and wander into our queer oasis, take in some sweet beats from our line-up of queer DJ’s, watch the mural artist at work, catch some queer cinema, a pop up performance, check out our dance party “Disco Queer” wander through our queer exhibitions, decorate yourself at our Glitter station and leave a message for the queer community of Shepparton.
We are also excited to have GLOBE Victoria coming to host a networking event at Eves Bar and Café to bring local LGBTIQA+ businesses and working professionals together from across the Goulburn Valley region. Other Festival event highlights include Rainbow Storytime, Queer Nature Connection, a GLOW Roller Disco, Shepparton’s 1st Queer Film Jamboree, brunches, dinners and Drag Bingo.
Through music and art, food events, health and wellbeing seminars and much more, OUTintheOPEN Festival 2023 will be a focal point for documenting LGBTIQA+ life through history to this very day, from dizzying romantic highs and lows, enduring friendships and good times, marching in solidarity with each other, acting often as a lifeline to one another, to the day-to-day functioning as a loving, living human being in the 21st century. Visit http://outintheopen.org.au/events-2023/ to check out all the events for #oito2023 or contact Georgina Poort (she/her) on 0401 168 229 for more information.
