Albany Pride Festival 2022 genuinely was a biggest yet: a mammoth and ambitious undertaking that saw us establish the Pride Festival as a key tourist event in the Great Southern’s calendar, and a key event in Western Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community.

Being our second festival to take place at the end of February, the Albany Pride Festival 2022 saw a significant increase in the number of visitors from outside of the region compared to previous years, and it gave us ample opportunity to showcase the vibrancy of our local LGBTQIA+ community and the beauty of the place we call home.

The Arts once again played a key part in our festivities, and were incorporated into numerous events – bringing comedians, performers and musicians down to Albany We were delighted to once again partner with the Albany Entertainment Centre to bring down notable acts, including Queerlectro band Alter Boy, the return to Albany of Kinetica, and Joel Bray with his Fringe show I Like It, But…

We hosted an impressive three-course Gala Dinner that featured many performers coming together, offering guests a spectacular feast for the eyes, with proceeds from the evening (as well as a raffle) going towards charitable organisations that tackle SOGICE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts).

The Albany Pride Festival 2022 saw a significant amount of partying (and hangovers the next morning!), but we were determined to ensure this year’s festivities wasn’t all debauchery and decadence!

Incorporating sports, fitness and wellbeing into our lineup was also part of our ambitions – everything from Yoga to Martial Arts! We welcomed more Perth-based LGBTQIA+ sports teams to Albany, with Rock Wallabies, Perth Frontrunners, Perth Pythons, Perth Hornets, Perth Rams and Perth Spectres all making the trip down to Albany to provide an array of sporting activities, that we hope will form the basis of “Sports Gay Carnivals” in years to come.

We partnered with local brewery Wilson’s Brewing Co., who made a special Summer Ale in our honour “Shore Thing”, and our Fundraising and Sponsorship Team did an amazing job at securing new partners for the Pride Festival, many of whom have committed to sponsoring us in the years ahead.

We also welcomed DRN1 as our first official media partner, who covered our Fair Day with a live broadcast!

As part of Albany Pride’s ongoing commitment and process to making a more inclusive Pride Festival, for our Pride Fair Day we partnered with Living Proud, saw us bring AUSLAN interpreters who mesmerised attendees with their incredible ability to bring music to life in a way any of us had not witnessed before, and provide an Accessibility Concierge Stall – a space for individuals experiencing sensory challenges.

Albany Pride were immensely proud of Pride 2022, and cannot express enough recognition and gratitude of the incredible hard work of our Pride Planning Committee and team of volunteers who managed to make it such a success.

Thanks to our Pride 2022 Committee:

• Annie Arnold
• Brett Fallon
• Damien Watts
• Darren Moir
• Julia Valentin
• Karen Trimmins
• Karina Carpenter
• Lupo Prenzato
• Melena Cooper
• Millie Reid
• Tash Rolfe
• Tiger Bird
• Trish Ryans-Taylor
• Tyler Bennie
• Victoria Rathbone