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Pride 2021 | Albany Pride Festival
Pride 2021
12th February - 27th February, 2021
Albany Pride 2021
12th February — 27th February, 2021
About

About

Pride 2021 was our first to take place in February. After Albany Pride Festival 2019, the Pride Planning Committee looked at moving the Pride Festival to a new time period. Previously, Albany Pride Festival typically took place during or at the end of November, which meant it usually took place at the same time as the Perth Pride Festival, or at the end of it.

Whilst this was great for our local LGBTQIA+ community that couldn’t or wouldn’t travel up to Perth to get their taste of Pride, it also meant that some of our local Queer community were going from one Pride to another straight after, or that visitors from Perth were reluctant to come down to Albany for our Pride Festival having just finished the one there.

We came to the conclusion that February might be ideal. Any earlier in the year than November, and you’d risk rain, wind and cold weather. Any later in the year than February, you’d risk rain, wind and cold weather. Weather-wise, February falls into the Noongar season of Bunuru – the hottest time of the year (whilst still providing ‘a break from the heat’ for our visitors from Perth and beyond!).

Given that would mean only three months between Pride Festivals, we decided to skip Pride Festival 2020 and wait for 2021.

The end of February also meant it was at the tail-end of the Perth Fringe Festival, which fell in line with our ambitions to incorporate more Arts events into our Pride lineup. We did so with two shows that featured in Fringe, ’30 Days Free Trial’ and ‘Caged’ by Kinetica. This was our first collaboration with the Albany Entertainment Centre to bring Queer-themed (or appealing) shows to Albany from the Fringe Festival.

We also teamed up with parkrun and the Perth Frontrunners to have a Saturday morning jog/walk/stroll event at Middleton Beach, and welcomed LGBTQIA+ Perth-based sports team Perth Spectres for a basketball game.

We once again welcomed Drag Royalty Barbie Q & Co. back to Albany for a number of events, including Drag Bingo and a Drag Show at the Albany Entertainment Centre.

Of course, this was also during shaky territory during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, our annual Fair Day had to be postponed until September – but luckily, the rest of our events managed to go ahead as planned.

Despite the challenges the pandemic presented, the Festival was an enormous success.

Lineup
Talent
Justin Cider
BarbieQ
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BarbieQ is Albany Pride royalty – first performing at Albany Pride Festival back in 2017, and returning each year since!

BarbieQ is renowned in the drag performance community, with over twenty years in the industry. She’s a multi-award winner, a dancer since the age of thirteen (with a five year career as a dancer for Princess Cruises in the USA) and is the Entertainment Manager for Connections Nightclub in Perth.

If that’s not enough, BarbieQ is also a regular Fringe Festival performer in Perth, which shows such as The Madonna Circus: ReInvention and Drag Diva Spectacular.

It’s always an absolute delight to welcome BarbieQ back to Albany, who amazes our audiences with her artistry, moves, sharp wit, and delightfully vulgar language!

Alexas Armstrong
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Alexas Armstrong is Drag Queen Royalty in Boorloo/Perth: but she’s also royalty down here in Albany/Kinjarling having been a regular performer at our Pride Festivals for many years.

Fay Rocious
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Veronica Jean Jones
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Veronica Jean Jones is an Albany Pride Festival, coming down to Albany/Kinjarling many times over the past few years.

With a caustic wit and a filthy mouth, Veronica Jean Jones is a Drag Bingo and Trivia Night favourite during Pride Festival.

Freddy Beperfect
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Charlotte Otton
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Andrew Sutherland
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Kinetica
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Kinetica is a performing arts company and circus school established in 2012 by a collective of circus, visual and performing artists, and based in Perth, Western Australia.

Kinetica are regular performers at the Perth Fringe Festival, regularly bringing in rave reviews – and their visits to Albany for the Pride Festival have been met with universal acclaim by all who attend!