Being COVIDSafe at Midsumma Festival

As we aim to keep attendees safe at Midsumma Festival, please look for COVIDSafe signage and follow directions.

COVIDSafe messages may be delivered before, during and after events via email, Midsumma's ticketing platform and social media channels, keep an eye out for information and please follow the directions to keep yourself and others safe.

Before attending an event, please ensure you have your proof of vaccination or medical exemption ready to present. Please follow the directions of venue staff and check in for record keeping with the QR code via the Service Victoria app or registry on arrival to events in public spaces.

• Ensuring all performances meet with venue capacity limits as directed by the Victorian Government
• Communicating with venues to ensure all areas are regularly cleaned and sanitised
• Ensuring hand sanitiser is available at all venues
• Placing signage in venues to help maintain physical distancing
• Seating in venues that complies with current state government requirements
• Contact tracing through digital check-ins using QR codes and the Service Victoria App or registry on arrival
• Proof of vaccination or medical exemption before entry
• COVIDSafe Marshals and COVID Check-in marshals at large events to facilitate COVID-19 health protocols
• Contacting ticket holders 24 hours before their event with detailed COVID-19 information

Venues, spaces, and Midsumma Staff have the right to refuse service or entry if compliance is not achieved, and must insist that anyone displaying COVID-19 symptoms does not attend the event. 

If you become unwell during an event, locate event staff or first aid. In venues, approach a venue usher or staff member. In public spaces, locate a Midsumma Festival Staff who will be wearing a Midsumma Festival t-shirt and lanyard.

Midsumma Festival will keep attendees advised on Victoria's COVIDSafe practices while attending Midsumma Festival events, and retains the right to refuse entry if compliance is not met.

Staying COVIDSafe is everyone's responsibility. Keep up to date with Public Transport Victoria's COVID-Safe travel updates.

YES! Midsumma Festival will be back in 2022, from 23 January - 13 February.

• Midsumma Carnival will be held on Sunday 23 January.
• Midsumma Pride March on Sunday 6 February.
• Melbourne Pride on Sunday 13 February. 

Our Midsumma Festival 2022 Program is available online, and tickets can be booked for Midsumma Festival 2022 events, from Monday 22 November. We are working with artists, producers, venues and stakeholders to make this the best (and safest) celebration of queer arts and culture that we can.

It might be all a little bit different, and we’re working hard to plan for all of the possibilities and changes that might come our way.

If there's one thing our communities do well, it is coming together however we can while still being safe, to become stronger and more resilient than ever before.

YES! Midsumma Carnival returns to Midsumma Festival on Sunday 23 January 2022. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Midsumma Carnival was absent from our 2021 Festival, but thankfully it will be back in 2022 painting Alexandra Gardens with rainbow pride. Midsumma is and will continue to be in constant discussions with the State Government and Health representatives as we continue to move forward with delivering Midsumma Carnival as safely as possible.

Yes. While attending an event that has 30,000 or more patrons present, you must wear a mask, unless you are seated outdoors at the event. Based on previous years we expect Midsumma Carnival will have have an audience of at least 30,000.

YES! The print and online versions of the program guide are now available.

To accommodate for artist and venue uncertainty as a result of the changing COVID-19 situation, we pushed back our print deadline for the Program Guide. 

Audiences will (as usual) be able to find all of our Midsumma Festival events on the Midsumma Festival website, and search for particular events in our What’s On menu. 

Supporting our artists to continue to make queer art is at the core of everything we think about.

Midsumma is aware that there are still challenges for our arts community and understand that the next few months will continue to be uncertain and unpredictable for artists, producers and collectives. To help relieve some financial challenges for artists and producers who were wanting to be a part of Midsumma Festival 2022, Midsumma offered a 50% discount on registration fees for the first 70 events to finalise their registration for Midsumma 2022. 

We also extended our event and venue registration deadline until 11 October 2021. This extra time allowed us to better support artists and venues with their event applications. As a result, the number of finalised event registrations for our 2022 Program significantly increased.

During the 2020 pandemic, we ran a small grants program "Living in the Queerantine" which successfully provided 10 artistic projects to receive up to $1,000 each to create a new piece of art that can engage through Midsumma’s online channels. The works were shared throughout June and July, via eNews, blog posts and social comms. "Queerantine in the Flesh" was presented as part of Midsumma Festival 2021 - a live exhibition of the online projects featuring special activations including artist talks, panel discussions and live performances throughout the two days.

We hope the Midsumma Pride March Fundraiser, Bake Off, will return in 2022. The event for 2020 and 2021 was cancelled due to COVID-19. 

Midsumma has a COVIDSafe Plan whose objectives are to document how Midsumma will operate in a COVIDSafe way, including the various requirements and procedures put in place for running COVIDSafe events.

As the COVID-19 situation changes, the plan is updated to incorporate new evidence-based information disseminated from the state and federal government, which may affect the protocols and procedures listed. Each time the plan is updated, all inducted staff will receive a new briefing from senior Midsumma staff to ensure compliance with any updated or reviewed procedures.

The COVIDSafe Plan is intended to supplement, not replace, the normal Risk Assessment and Emergency Management Plans for each participating venue or event.

The key aspects of the Midsumma COVID-Safe Plan are:

• COVIDSafe Guidelines: designing the specific guidelines to be followed
• Communications, Awareness and Inductions: ensuring that every single person involved with Midsumma, including audience members, receives appropriate levels of information (and training where appropriate)
• Record Keeping: keeping track of every interaction made, so that contact tracing can be conducted efficiently if a confirmed COVID-19 case is detected
• Physical Distancing and Crowd Management: developing and enacting procedures to ensure that appropriate physical distancing is maintained
• Confirmed Case Response and Incident Management: ensuring efficient response to suspected, or confirmed, COVID-19 incidents

Pre-event attendee communications will be designed to further the awareness of COVID-19 and COVIDSafe practices put in place at Midsumma events, venues and operations.

Midsumma dedicated communications will be made via Midsumma website pages, social media posts and eDMs. Messaging will include scheduling of key health messages (staying home if unwell; how to seek assistance; hygiene best practice; physical distancing responsibility).

Midsumma's Record Keeping protocol includes:

• Utilising an online solution for contact tracing with records kept safe and secure for the required period as set by state and federal government requirements;
• Keeping cleaning records to track compliance with COVIDSafe cleaning and hygiene requirements;
• Where possible, record keeping and checklists will use an online touch-free platform. Where this is not possible, COVIDSafe hygiene and cleaning will be maintained for shared pens/paper;
• Ensuring all record keeping relating to personal details is kept in line with Midsumma's COVIDSafe Privacy Policy.

*Data for record keeping requirements will only be stored for the required time (currently 28 days), after which time it will be securely deleted. 

All our venues will be using QR Codes to direct audiences to check in and enter their details. If you are unable to check in using a smart device, paper-based methods will be available. We will only use or share your check-in details for contact tracing purposes. You can find information about how your information is stored and used at service.vic.gov.au/check-in.

The Victorian Government has requested that venues collect contract tracing information via the Victorian Government QR Code Service or Victorian Government Visitation API from the 26th March.