Rainbow Families Hub Will Be Held at The 2020 Midsumma Festival

Circus Oz and The Melba Spiegeltent will host the Rainbow Families Hub at the 2020 Midsumma Festival.

The Rainbow Families Hub will be a space designed for LGBTIQA+ families and allies which will present a brand-new program of activities, including comedy, cabaret, sing-a-longs, dancing and circus classes, workshops and activities.

Over five days this summer, the Rainbow Families Hub program will feature some of Melbourne's best family-friendly performers, artists and storytellers, including Sarah Ward, Maeve Marsden and Tessa Waters.

The Melba Spiegeltent Producer and Rainbow Families Hub curator, Brian Robertson, explains the parallels between Circus Oz and the Midsumma Festival, "Both organisations champion inclusivity. We want to celebrate all families - those we make, those we choose and those we find."

"This year we've expanded our Midsumma Festival programming to focus on LGBTIQA+ families and allies to create an experience for adults and their kids. Families can drop in for an hour, a morning, an afternoon or come for the whole five days to enjoy all our events scheduled at The Melba Spiegeltent," said Robertson.

There will be a heap of FREE activities at Rainbow Families Hub, including daily story time sessions where well-known LGBTQIA+ and allied leaders, comedians and public figures will read a story that inspired them as a child or they wish they had read to them as a young person.

The story time line-up includes feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker Clementine Ford; emerging queer elder and Ngarigo man Peter Waples-Crowe; and the Executive Director of Transgender Victoria: Margot Fink.

There will also be FREE craft workshops where participants can make their own family flag, an item of wearable art or magazine (supported by Archer Magazine).

A program highlight will a FREE and very fun Rainbow Family Dance Club - an extension of All The Queens Men's monthly LGBTI+ Elders Dance Club - it'll be a great opportunity kids and adults to get their boogie on to Baby Shark, the Hokey Pokey and many more family favourites!

During the summer festivities at the Rainbow Families Hub, families can also relax and recharge in The Melba Spiegeltent forecourt while they enjoy a variety of food and beverage options that will be available, including vegan and veggie-friendly lunch options and a coffee cart.