Happy Mardi Gras!
Running from 16 February to 3 March, this year’s Mardi Gras festivities include an exciting program of over 100 community events, parties, theatre, comedy, music and more.
ACON will be out and about at the festival to help our communities keep healthy and stay safe.
ULTRA VIOLET | Saturday 22 February 2025
Ultra Violet is Mardi Gras’ big event especially designed by and for LGBTQ+ women. This year it’s happening at the National Art School from 3pm through to midnight.
Spread across four stages, the day-to-night party will feature international, interstate and local DJs, bands and performers.
ACON’s Women Health Project will be there – visit our table for resources on LGBTQ+ women’s health and cancer prevention information.
Ultra Violet, Saturday 22 February at the National Art School, Darlinghurst. For more information and booking details, visit the Mardi Gras website here.
MARKS PARK SUNRISE | Saturday 22 February 2025
Marks Park Sunrise
6:15am – 7am, Saturday 22 February 2025
Meet at the Rise Memorial, Marks Park, Tamarama
For more information visit bondimemorial.com.au.
MARDI GRAS PARADE | Saturday 1 March 2025
The 47th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is set to take over Oxford Street, Flinders Street and Anzac Parade on Saturday 1 March 2025. Set your true self free as the Mardi Gras magic makes its way down the heritage-listed Parade route for one of the largest LGBTQIA+ nighttime parades in the world.
Over 200 floats from every corner of our communities will strut, stroll and roll from Hyde Park to Moore Park on Sydney’s night-of-nights. As is tradition, our fearless protectors the Dykes on Bikes, LGBTQIA+SB First Nations communities and our beloved 78ers will lead over 11,000 marchers under the 2025 Festival theme: FREE TO BE.
The First Nations Float, produced by ACON’s Aboriginal Project, will once again lead the Parade, while ACON’s float in the Mardi Gras Parade will showcase our latest campaign.
Mardi Gras Parade, Saturday 1 March 7.30pm, Oxford and Flinders Sts, Darlinghurst and Moore Park.
Plan your Parade experience with all the info on the Mardi Gras website.
MARDI GRAS PARTY | Saturday 1 March 2025
The 2025 MARDI GRAS PARTY
Saturday 1 March
10pm-late
Playbill Venues and Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park.
As Mardi Gras revellers dance the night away, ACON will be there to ensure party-goers keep well and stay safe. We’ll be on hand with information and resources at the ACON Info Desk, handily located in the entrance forecourt. ACON’s ‘SEXPERTS’ will be handing out safe sex packs throughout the night, and ACON Rovers will be patrolling the party to provide information, support and assistance.
My Sovereign Black Body | Exhibition 16 Feb – 13 Apr
Boomalli Aboriginal Arts Cooperative is proud to announce the 2024 Mardi Gras Exhibition is My Sovereign Black Body, curated by Wamba Wamba man, Steven Lindsay Ross.
My Sovereign Black Body is a RECLAMATION of our skin and bones and essence, of the beauty defined by our own eyes and by Country, kinship connection, song, culture and dance – it is a celebration of blackness by queer black artists.
Exhibiting artists include Jeffrey Samuels, Jasmine Sarin, Ella Noah Bancroft, Hayley Pigram, Peta-Joy Williams, Kyra Kum-Sing, Kirilly Dawn, Dennis Golding, Jessica Johnson, Nioka Lowe-Brennan, Nola Taylor, Graeme Walker, Nathan Frank, Peter Waples-Crowe, Luke Close and Nebbi Boii.
The exhibition launches on Friday 16th February 202 and will run until Saturday 13th April 2024, at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Leichhardt.
Opening Night: Friday 16th February 6pm – 8pm will be a fabulous night of entertainment and meet the incredible Boomalli Artists. All Welcome. RSVP here.
From the Pitch to Progress – LGBTQIA+ Representation in Sport
As part of Mardi Gras’ QUEER FUTURES talks on Saturday 24 February 2024, hear from professional athletes on their perspectives towards culture, progress and practice at the highest level. This 90-minute panel presentation, developed and facilitated by Pride in Sport, will bring together current and former professional athletes from major sports to share what it means to be Queer in sports.
Presented in partnership with ACON’s Pride in Sport.
Women’s sport is finally getting the attention it deserves and the athletes are redefining their codes along the way – modelling inclusivity and excellence. In 2023, the Matildas in the FIFA Women’s World Cup captured hearts while catalysing change within the sporting world and beyond.
Their successes have sparked important conversations about how sport can be a powerful force of inclusion and a voice for positive change. Codes and teams are creating spaces where athletes can thrive regardless of gender or sexual orientation, fostering cultures of acceptance and community. Government policy, marketing and community groups must all play a part is this sporting revolution – but how?
Our panelists – Moya Dodd AO, past Matildas Vice-Captain, Asian Football Confederation Vice-President and FIFA Council member; Danielle Laidley, AFL player, coach and transgender advocate; Dr Karen Menzies, the First Indigenous Matilda; and Leigh Wardell, Original 1978 Matilda – discuss the power of collaboration and understanding between these groups in creating a more inclusive future, with Pride in Sport’s Beau Newell.
FROM THE PITCH TO PROGRESS: A Closer Look At LGBTQIA+ Representation in Sport
Part of Mardi Gras’ QUEER FUTURES weekend of talks
10am-11:30am on Saturday 24 February 2024
Cellblock Theatre, National Art School
MORE INFO HERE AND BOOK TICKETS HERE
QUEER SCREEN MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL | Screenings 13-27 February 2025
ACON is proud to partner with Queer Screen’s 32nd Mardi Gras Film Festival. The festival is all about celebrating love—love for stories, love for community, and love for LGBTQIA+ cinema. With over 140 films spanning romance, passion, and everything in between, it’s the perfect reason to grab your date, your mates, or fly solo and experience love.
We are delighted to co-present a series of sessions at this year’s festival:
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THE LAST TABOO – presented in partnership with Pride in Sport
Manfred Oldenburg’s bold documentary fearlessly dives into one of the strongholds of homophobia in sports, men’s professional soccer. Saturday 15 February – BOOK TICKETS HERE
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SALLY! – presented in partnership with the LOVE Project
An Australian premiere, Sally! is a vibrant documentary that resurrects the legacy of a firebrand radical lesbian feminist who ignited movements for LGBTIQ+ equality and women’s rights in the 1970s and ‘80s. Saturday 15 February – BOOK HERE.
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LESVIA – presented in partnership with Word on the Sheets
Sun-drenched beaches and radical freedom – welcome to Eressos! A village on the Greek island of Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho, transformed into a global lesbian haven. Tuesday 18 February – BOOK HERE.
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SAME, AGAIN – presented in partnership with Say it Out Loud
A world premiere. With suspenseful storytelling and sensitive direction, this drama explores the ways we hurt and heal each other and the power of reclaiming agency. A thought-provoking film offering an unflinching look at the invisible chains that bind us and the courage it takes to break free.
Tuesday 25 February – BOOK HERE.
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THE PARADISE OF THORNS – presented in partnership with SocialAsians
Grief, betrayal and a ruthless fight for love and survival collide in the cinematic epic The Paradise of Thorns, starring Thai superstar Jeff Satur.
Monday 24 February – BOOK HERE
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To Live, To Die, To Live Again – presented in partnership with ACON
An unorthodox love triangle unfolds under the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, in this moving French melodrama about the power of found family. Sunday 23rd February – BOOK HERE
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DESIRE LINES – Presented in partnership with TransHub
Experience this loving tribute to transmasculine sexual visibility in Jules Rosskam’s groundbreaking hybrid documentary.
Sunday 23 February – BOOK HERE
For the full Mardi Gras Film Festival program, visit the Queer Screen website here.