MELT: Festival of Queer Arts & Culture

The much-loved MELT: Festival of Queer Arts and Culture returns to Brisbane Powerhouse for 11 fabulous days in May, with a jam-packed program of spectacular events and dazzling performances.

Queensland’s most exciting celebration of LGBTIQ+ arts and culture is set to take over Brisbane Powerhouse from May 20-30, 2021, with more than 15 inspiring and entertaining events, from confetti-covered cabaret, live music, visual arts, storytelling and theatre, starring an eclectic mix of home-grown heroes and Festival favourites. 

Internationally-acclaimed performance event, Truth to Power Café, will open MELT on Thursday, May 20. Created, written and performed by Jeremy Goldstein, this profound theatrical reflection on loss, hope and resistance is told through memoir, image, poetry, music and live testimony from community participants.

Fabulous fan favourite, Reuben Kaye, declares The Butch is Back in the award-winning Australian comedian and singer’s sensational new show on Thursday, May 27, 2021. 

On Friday, May 28, Showguys is a boylesque-drag tribute to the 1995 cult classic film Showgirls; while on Saturday, May 29, Killer Queens returns with five ferocious females performing interpretations of songs by Freddie Mercury, Bowie and Prince.

The Studio performance space will host a diverse program of world premieres including hallowed cabaret God is in the House and poetic play Violet-Crowned from May 20-22, followed by the thought-provoking People of Colours and storytelling piece, Queer as Flux from May 27-29, 2021.

Some of Australia’s finest queer writers - Holly Throsby, Holden Sheppard, Ellen van Neervan and host Ed Ayre - come together in conversation on Sunday, May 23 to discuss their recent works in Queer Lit, part of Brisbane Powerhouse’s Writers+Ideas program.

The party continues with free events including Spill the Tea, a chat show hosted by Richie LeStrange and Christina Draguilera on May 22 and 28; a special MELT Livespark event on Sunday, May 30; and the family-friendly Rainbow Craft and Storytime morning on Saturday, May 22, 2021. 

Festival favourites returning in 2021 include the show-stopping MELT Beauty Pageant on Friday, May 21, and the annual MELT Portrait Prize returns from May 20 to June 13, featuring a series of strikingly raw photographs portraying the emotional battles faced by many LGBTIQ+ Pacific Islander and Indigenous people.

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