Sydney won’t be the only city covered in rainbows as it celebrates the world’s largest LGBTIQA+ festival this month, with Parramatta also set to show its Pride through a line-up of events.
International festival WorldPride will be hosted for the first time ever in Sydney this year, making it the first time a city in the southern hemisphere has been selected. Running until March 5, Sydney WorldPride will incorporate all the beloved Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras events plus a range of other events.
But for locals wanting to celebrate the occasion closer to home, City of Parramatta will also be running a variety of events and activities across the CBD.
During WorldPride, Parramatta Square will be transformed with the installation of vibrant rainbow-coloured stairs and the roof of PHIVE illuminated in the colours of the Pride Progress Flag. The pride flag will also fly on the banks of Parramatta River.
City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Donna Davis said she was excited to see Parramatta join the world’s largest celebration of pride and diversity.
“It’s great to see Parramatta embracing diversity of all kinds and to see all these beautiful colours here on display in Parramatta Square,” she said.
“While we didn’t succeed in securing any of the official WorldPride events, that didn’t stop Parramatta because we know that our LGBTIQA+ community is an important part of who we are.
“We want to ensure that we have a safe place that’s celebrating diversity during this incredible WorldPride period.”
Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres will be holding five productions in conjunction with Sydney WorldPride, with two from Riverside’s own production company, National Theatre of Parramatta, beginning with the Australian premiere of ‘Choir Boy’ and new work ‘The Life Cycle of Blanco’. Also on the line up is award-winning box office hit ‘Matador’, ‘Queerstories X Worldpride’, and ‘Hafla’.
Western Sydney LGBTIQA+ writing group WestWords will showcase its latest work, with a third anthology being launched at PHIVE on February 26.
PHIVE will host special PRIDE workshops, including a creative studio with Jordan Gogos – the founder and designer of Sydney fashion house Iordanes Spyridon Gogos. Visitors will also be able to check out the colourful inflatable artworks created by the Beautiful and Useful studio at PHIVE.
Several art installations can also be seen around Parramatta Square, including Parramatta Artists’ Studio’s Nadia Odlum’s work ‘Slippery Directions’.
Speaking to Parra News, Odlum said it was really nice to see their artwork placed throughout Parramatta Square.
“There’s a funny thing that happens in Sydney where the arts and culture of western Sydney doesn’t always get the credit that it’s due,” Odlum said.
“Western Sydney has an incredibly vibrant artistic scene so it’s really exciting for me as an artist to work out here and particularly see things like WorldPride celebrated in a western Sydney context.”
To find out more about World Pride events in Parramatta, go to http://www.atparramatta.com/pride.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.