It’s been years in the making, and now Sydney’s 2023 WorldPride festival has finally kicked the celebrations into gear.
Sydney WorldPride kicked off on February 17 and will last until March 3. The festivities step up another level this weekend with the Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert on ABC and ABC iview tonight, followed by Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday.
Broadcast from the Domain, songwriter-actress-author-presenter Casey Donovan and international drag icon Courtney Act will host the opening concert.
Mediaweek spoke to Courtney Act, aka Shane Jenke, about their hosting duties and involvement in the event.
The concert starts with the opening number. Act has eight minutes between opening and returning to the stage for hosting duties to change glamourous outfits and wigs.
“First off is the opening number, and Josh, my dance partner from Dancing with the Stars, has a cameo, so we’re going to be doing some lifts, tricks, and dancing.”
The opening concert will feature headline performances from Kylie Minogue, Charli XCX, Jessica Mauboy, and a vast array of Australia’s queer performers.
“I think Mardi Gras, the festival and the parade and the party, are top three in the world in pride festivals. Nobody does it as well as us,” Act said. “WorldPride is just so much more attention. You can’t turn a corner in Sydney without being smacked in the face by a rainbow. It’s just wonderful.”
WorldPride is a global LGBTQIA+ festival that has been staged since 2000, with cities competing to host the event.
Sydney was chosen by InterPride members to be the host of WorldPride in 2023, marking the first time a city in the southern hemisphere had been selected.
“I think everybody coming to Sydney from all around the world after years of not being able to travel, and being able to celebrate and experience the northern hemisphere for all the people escaping to summer, It’s exciting. It’s a celebration. And already, you’re starting to feel that little buzz around the place.”
ABC Worldpride presenters
Marking 45 Years, with over 200 floats and the biggest international presence the parade has ever seen, the ABC will showcase the dazzling and diverse community coming together for this world-famous event.
To coincide with Sydney WorldPride, Act has released a world pride anthem titled, Celebrate.
They have leaned into TikTok as a platform to promote and share the song.
“I’m not of the TikTok generation, and I resisted and resisted, and I realised that my childhood equivalent would be my parents not being able to program the VCR. So I think TikTok was my version of the VCR, and I didn’t want to be left behind.
“So rather than trying not to be a millennial on TikTok, I thought maybe I should just lean into the fact that I’m a millennial who’s releasing a song, so I’m making TikTok’s til it hurts.”
Not only does Sydney WorldPride represent the first time the event will be staged in the southern hemisphere, but the 2023 festival coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week, the 45th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and the fifth anniversary of Marriage Equality in Australia.
“I remember watching the Mardi Gras broadcast in 1994 on ABC downstairs in my bedroom with the volume turned right down and secretly recording on my VHS so nobody knew.
“And I was able to visualise in my bedroom in 1994 and be like, ‘you’re going to be the host of this one day,”
When asked what it would have meant growing up knowing they’d be hosting such WorldPride, Act said, “Brisbane in the 80s and 90s felt like you had to try and squeeze yourself into a box, and watching the Mardi Gras on television felt like that the walls of that box had been knocked down and everybody was dancing on top of it. And that was something that definitely spoke to me.
“So to know that 30 years later that it’s so celebrated, the whole city is covered in rainbows, and the whole country is aware that Sydney WorldPride is on and that we’re celebrating with so many more rights and so much more visibility is such an amazing thing.”