What an epic night at the Edge in Fed Square when more than 400 of our friends and allies joined us on 26 November 2025 to celebrate the launch of the 2025 Midsumma Festival program! It was a fabulous night filled with exhilarating live performances, inspiring speeches and the excitement to see how Victoria will come alive in summer with the Midsumma Festival 2025 when the festival theme COLLECTIVE IDENTITY (S) and the upcoming program were announced.
The night kicked off when our guests lighted up the red carpet in their stunning outfits. Our wonderful Community Ambassador Karan Nagrani brought endless laughter and enjoyment to everyone on the red carpet and watched the livestream as the host of the interview.
The launch of our official program began with a Welcome to Country and beautiful dances (Wominjeka Ngarrga and Baban Darrang) performed by Djirri Djirri Dancers. Our amazing MC and artist Adam Noviello then livened the night up with the incredible performance of their iconic non-binary anthem Heretic. Following this, there were motivating speeches given by our amazing speakers: Chief Executive and Creative Director of Midsumma, Karen Bryant; Chair of the Midsumma Management Board, Judy Small; Director of Experience Melbourne from City of Melbourne, Louise Scott; and finishing the formalities with Chief Design Officer & Executive Co-Sponsor for NAB Pride, Lance Thornswood.
The first half of our program launch concluded with a magnificent performance by Women’s Circus with performers in their 50s, 60s and even 70s performing to a punk rock tune synced to the infamous misogyny speech from former PM Julia Gillard.
The excitement continued to spin through the second half of our program launch when Cerulean, Miss First Nations Supreme Queen 2023, brought everyone a spectacular lip-syncing performance that hit the stage like Beyoncé. Exhilaration culminated when Midsumma Festival 2025’s theme and program of over 200 events were officially revealed. The night ended with Adam Noviello’s impressive performance of their most recent single, Recipe.
We sincerely thank everyone who joined us in person and virtually to celebrate the launch of Midsumma Festival 2025. Watch the recorded livestream here.
It was an incredible and exciting night when COLLECTIVE IDENTITY(S) came to life to celebrate arts, connection and diversity in Victoria. Come and join us at the 2025 Midsumma Festival!
