General News
30 January, 2023
Festival organisers find Pride in the community
Maryborough’s inaugural Pride Festival was everything organisers hoped for and more according to the driving force behind the event, Adrian Masterman-Smith. “It makes me very proud to see the community’s reaction,” he said. “It was...
Maryborough’s inaugural Pride Festival was everything organisers hoped for and more according to the driving force behind the event, Adrian Masterman-Smith.
“It makes me very proud to see the community’s reaction,” he said.
“It was everything I hoped it could be and more. We got a really good cross-section of the community.
“From wonderful people in their 80s who stayed all day right to the final act, right through to children, rainbow families, and everyone in between.”
Mr Masterman-Smith said he was thrilled to see around 450 people attend the festival, with some travelling from as far a field as Melbourne, Ararat, Bendigo and Ballarat.
“I’m so proud of the community for the quality of engagement with the Pride Festival,” he said.
“It was always about building a sense of community and making sure that no one was falling off the end of the radar and that absolutely happened.”
The whole-day event saw a line-up of local musicians, drag queens, activities and food trucks.
Mr Masterman-Smith said the four talks — around the trans and gender diverse community, local sports clubs and the sporting community, Headspace, and the new Central Goldfields Shire Youth Council — were a stand out.
“The highlight was the four conversations we had and they’re not the sort of things that people would immediately think of as being what a pride festival is about, but the new pride festivals, the ones that are really right on trend, are about starting conversations, getting some knowledge and some lived experience out there,” he said.
“We had four conversations throughout the afternoon and people sat and listened.
“There were some good questions asked so I’m really pleased with that. That information and lived experience sharing was the most important bit out of the festival.”
With the first festival well supported by sponsors, Mr Masterman-Smith said he expects it to return next year.
“I think we’d probably keep the focus on our local artists and performers — that was very, very successful,” he said.
“We might have a second, bigger stage where we can have more conversations so we can give a little bit more space and respect to the lived experiences that people were sharing with us. We’d like to build on our good bits.”
