Australia's queer music festival Gaytimes announces a hiatus in 2026
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Australia's queer music festival Gaytimes announces a hiatus in 2026
After nine years, Australia’s only queer music and arts camping festival Gaytimes has announced a hiatus after this year.
Ahead of Gaytimes next month, the festival organisers have announced with heavy hearts that it will go on hiatus after this year.
Since 2016, Gaytimes has been Australia’s only queer camping music and arts festival.
It remains one of the only LGBTIQ” music festivals in the world.
Gaytimes gives a platform for LGBTIQ+ musicians, DJs and performers at every stage of their careers.
It is an opportunity for young LGBTIQ+ artists to break into the music industry behind the scenes.
Festival Director Anna Whitelaw announced the news this morning in a statement.
“Like many festivals in Australia and worldwide, we have been hit with skyrocketing cost increases,”
“Which has led to two consecutive years of losses, despite increasing patron numbers.”
“Many of these costs – like transport, staging, equipment, insurance – have more than doubled since 2020.” the statement read.
“In the current economic climate, we are also struggling to secure acts and sell tickets in addition to grappling with higher overheads.”
“As an independent community-run festival, Gaytimes is self-financed almost entirely from ticket revenue.
“With very little support from external sources like government funding, sponsorship or philanthropy.
“Despite our best efforts, running a festival like ours is simply becoming too hard.”
“For these reasons, we have made the difficult decision to take next year off.”
We hope this isn’t forever.
“We hope this isn’t forever,” Whitelaw said in the statement,
“And we will be working hard to return in 2027.
“We plan to use this time to recalibrate and find a workable model so Gaytimes can continue in some form for the next decade.
“We also want to give our devoted team a well-earned break and time to work on other projects.”
Gaytimes began in 2016 with 300 festivalgoers on a mountaintop ski resort in Marysville.
The festival has grown to become a sell-out three-day multi-stage camping music and arts festival.
The event is now held in a scout camp forest in Gembrook.
“I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last nine years,” Whitelaw said,
“Back in 2015, Gaytimes was dreamed up as a crazy idea between two friends who threw queer parties.”
“Having been to epic festivals like Coachella, Meredith and Strawberry Fields where I hardly meet another gay person.
“Having thrown queer parties for most of my twenties, I wanted there to be a camping music festival for the LGBTIQ community.
“When we started Gaytimes, we had no money, and hardly a clue what we were doing.
“We’ve been lucky enough to build a team of festival professionals who work on this as a labour of love.
“From the beginning, we have wanted Gaytimes to be a platform for LGBTIQ+ artists to be seen and heard.
“We’ve championed diversity often underrepresented on mainstream festival lineups.
“We have given the opportunity for many new artists to play on a festival stage for the first time.
“Alongside prominent and international artists and watched them flourish into prominent careers.
“Behind the scenes, we have given many female, queer and gender-diverse music industry and events professionals a foot in the door,
Nothing like this existed before we started.
Gaytimes has created career pathways in a traditionally very straight and very male-dominated industry.
They’ve also been an incubator for LGBTIQ creatives from all kinds of disciplines – drag, burlesque, cabaret and visual art.
“We believe Gaytimes is truly unique,” Whitelaw said,
“A safe, inclusive festival experience for the queer, trans and gender-diverse community to come together,
“To be themselves in the beautiful Australian bush and to showcase some of the very best talent from across Australia’s LGBTIQ community.
“Nothing like this existed before we started, and we want the next generation to get to experience it.
“To feel the unadulterated joy and freedom that you get from dancing in a forest with over a thousand other queer people,
“Feeling (sometimes for the first time) like you truly belong.
Over its nine-year history, Gaytimes has featured eclectic lineups of emerging and established live musicians.
This includes Electric Fields, Mo’Ju, Cry Club, Cable Ties, Alex The Astronaut, Bec Sandridge, Kira Puru, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Anesu, Simona Castricum, Odette, Brendan Maclean and many more.
Gaytimes also has featured a lineup of world-class DJs from Australia and across the globe.
Including Jennifer Loveless who has played the festival every year, CC:DISCO!, HAAi, Late Nite Tuff Guy, The Illustrious Blacks, and Lady Shaka.
Beyond just music, Gaytimes has featured award-winning Fringe cabaret, drag, vogue ballroom houses and a hit burlesque show.
As well as everything from hugely popular shibari workshops to speed dating and life drawing.
As well as yoga, talks on rainbow fertility and family planning, sexual health and queer relationships and even a day spa.
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Gaytimes is more than just a festival.
“Gaytimes has changed the festival and live music landscape for the better,” Whitelaw said,
“Making festivals more inclusive spaces for queer people on stage, behind the scenes and in the crowd.
“When we started many musicians didn’t even want to play at Gaytimes for fear of being labelled ‘queer’,
“Now we see openly queer and gender diverse artists topping charts, winning the Hottest 100 and dominating at the Grammys and the ARIAs.
“Even so, we also know that in the current political climate with trans rights under attack,
“There is still an urgent need for queer spaces like ours.”
“We know Gaytimes is more than a festival. It has changed lives – not least of all ours.
“For that, we are truly grateful for all of those thousands of people who have contributed over the last decade.
“Hundreds of artists, volunteers, generous suppliers, the scouts and the broader festival industry who’ve supported us,
“Our beautiful crowd who’ve shown up consistently and our unbelievably hard-working crew,
“Who’ve put their blood, sweat, tears and their own money into making this possible.
“While we hope this year isn’t our last and we can come back better than ever,”
“If there is one thing we’ve learned from running a festival through years of bushfires, storms, pandemics and inflation,”
“It is that nothing is certain, and nothing lasts forever,” Whitelaw said,
“With that in mind, we have made this decision now,”
“So we can put all our energy into making this year’s festival our best yet… in case it is our last.
“So this is an invitation to our beloved LGBTIQ+ community.
“If you love Gaytimes as much as we do, or if you have never been and always wanted to go, this year’s festival in March is your chance.
“Come along and experience what we still believe is both one of the best festivals in Australia and one of the best queer parties on earth.”
This year, Gaytimes will feature Alex Lahey and Haiku Hands alongside new Australian musicians like DEVAURA, Siala, PEPTALK, Dizzy Days and Fleur De Mur.
With DJs Berghain and Panorama Bar resident Roi Perez alongside local rising stars such as Stev Zar, Yikes, 2 Lubly and Simon TK.
Gaytimes is the colourful queer camping music & arts festival of your dreams, there is nothing else like it in the country.
Just in case this is the last, why not join them for this year’s celebration of community, queer culture and one hell of a great time.
Click here to find out more about this year’s Gaytimes, running in Gembrook from the 21st to the 23rd of March.
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