Spring is OUT and about as Canberra Pride marks its 25th anniversary with its launch at Fair Day on 2 November 2024.
Through the month of November, SpringOUT celebrates Canberra’s LGBTQIA+ community with a range of different events beginning Fair Day. The festivities being on the day with a host of events hosted, performed and provided by community members and sponsors. Some of the events for this anniversary include musical and performance artists, market and food stalls and even a kids entertainment zone.
Nathan J Lester, Secretary of the SpringOUT planning committee says he is excited about this year’s Fair Day and hopes to see ‘thousands’ at Glebe Park.
Nathan says that the Committee has a few surprises planned for celebrating the 25th anniversary. “We have a few key surprises, there might be some cake involved,” he said. He added that the Committee had already enjoyed a cake presented by Chief Minister of the ACT, Andrew Barr at their launch in early October.
Having attended SpringOUT events many times over the last 25 years, Nathan has been the Secretary of the committee since March 2024. Nathan was also the official photographer for the 2023 festival. He is excited to step up for the 2024 Festival:
“I wanted to provide more to support the queer community and help things run efficiently and smoothly, plus they were looking for committee members!”
This year’s Fair Day boasts a packed lineup of talented local performers, headlined by Canberra’s own punk rockers nonbinarycode. Across both the mainstage and Glebe Park, various musical and dance acts including favourite local Drag Artists MadB, Venus Mantrap, Icky, Ravi Oli, and Tina Cox and Rat Bastard will be performing. The entertainment will be supported by market and food stalls with both local and sponsor producers and artists.
The festival celebrating pride began as a handful of small events which has grown into a full month of activities. originally known as Canberra Pride, the not-for-profit organisation rebranded to SpringOUT in 2015.
We serve the LGBTQIA+ community by affirming the pride, joy, dignity and identity of our communities and its people through events of celebration. The Association seeks to enable LGBTQIA+ individuals and groups to discover, express and develop their artistic, cultural skills and potential.
SpringOUT Pride Festival Vision Statement
Fair Day is just the first of the festivities, with details on what else to expect available on the SpringOUT website.