Oceanside Pride

The Portland Arts Centre was honoured to present Oceanside Pride in December 2025 - a Pride event that celebrated the diversity and creativity of LGBTQIA+ people in our community, and their allies.

Delivered in partnership with BEAT Entertainment, Oceanside Pride featured a large range of workshops and performance opportunities, culminating in a sunset variety show spectacular on the Portland Foreshore on Saturday 13 December.

The Activities

Snacks and Snacks: Oceanside Pride Opening Social and Show Your Colours: Queer Talent Night 

Monday 1 December, Portland Arts Centre

We kicked off Oceanside Pride at the PAC with an informal gathering for people to meet their fellow LGBTQIA+ community, allies in the neighbourhood, the festival organiser Virginia Winter, and Sam Gaskin and Johnny Hamilton from BEAT Entertainment - as well as Aunty Denise Lovett, whose dedication and presence made sure that the Queer community felt safe and truly welcome on Gunditjmara country throughout the festival.

After the meet and greet, we retreated to the auditorium where Sam hosted a fabulous, joy filled open-mic talent night, for our local superstars to shine. It was an incredibly diverse mix of spoken word, comedy, monologues, music and drag, all shared in the safety and support of a community of new friends and old. There were even a couple of people who were "just going to watch" who got inspired to jump up and claim their five minutes of fame.

Finding Joy through Commercial Dance and Stitch, Knot, Slay: Queer Costume-Making Workshop

Tuesday 2 December, Portland Arts Centre

Samuel Gaskin delivered his popular Finding Joy through Commercial Dance workshop, for all abilities and all ages. As well as encouraging us to connect with our inner divas, Sam taught the choreography for the all-in number for the Oceanside Pride Closing Spectacular. Over half of the participants decided to go on to perform in the finale - including several who had never danced on stage.

Johnny Hamilton is known for his stunning contemporary costume designs, using unconventional materials and techniques to create dance costumes that enhance movement and storytelling. Following the dance workshop, Johnny taught an enthusiastic (if not always super coordinated!) group the basic macrame techniques that he uses to create stage costume frameworks, as well as talking through materials ideas, colour, and finishing techniques, showing several examples of his finished works and demystifying the materials he uses, from pool noodles to cellophane.

Keeping our hands busy with something new created joy and connection, as strangers laughed together, got tangled, helped each other out, and talked about everything from first queer crushes to the state of the world - and how we're going to fix it!

Karaoke Pizza Party

Monday 8 December, Portland Arts Centre

Our Music Mondays & YUMCHA (Youth United Making Change Against Homophobic Attitudes) youth crews came together for an inclusive celebration of pizza and pop music in our end of year karaoke party. Musical theatre, ABBA, Madonna, Beyonce, Disney and alt rock were all in high rotation. It was an incredibly high dopamine way to celebrate a fantastic year of youth programs in the arts and inclusion spaces.

Be Your Own Icon: Youth Drag Workshop

Tuesday 9 December, Portland Arts Centre

Our young people had been asking for this for a long time, and it did not disappoint! Miss First Nations Supreme Queen, Cerulean, demonstrated stage makeup techniques, a masterclass in walking elegantly in heels, and workshopped different physicalities for creating character and humour with the participants.

Sam and Johnny also joined in for a fabulous deep dive group discussion about personas, the history of the Ballroom scene, and Q&As about professional opportunities, next steps, and detecting red flags for discrimination and exploitation that can be presented under the "drag" label. It was an uplifting and practical workshop for anyone interested in stylised performance and/or character creation, and several participants have begun working on drag or clowning characters as a result.

Creative Development Session

Wednesday 10 December, Portland Arts Centre

Sam, Johnny, Cerulean, and Virginia brought in the selected community performers to workshop and refine their performances for the finale, including the purpose-formed dance group The Birds of Paradise, singer Lily Meister and drag acts Ophelia Diamond and Thunder Thicky Thighs. They worked with each act to fine tune their performances, and give them points to work on, costume notes, etc before meeting again for pre-show dress rehearsal on Saturday 13 December.

AUNTY by BEAT Entertainment - The Portland Arts Centre's 2026 Season Launch Party

Friday 12 December, Portland Arts Centre

To coincide with Oceanside Pride and the BEAT Entertainment crew being in town, we presented AUNTY as the entertainment / afterparty for our season launch. Part dance party, part cabaret, AUNTY was a raucous celebration of blak femme icons of music, and was hugely enjoyable for all of our guests, including regulars to our performing arts program, participants from the Oceanside Pride workshops, and several real life VIP Aunties from our traditional owners groups, including Aunty Hilary Saunders who welcomed us all to country, and reminded the Queer community that the Gunditjmara people meet us with open hearts and wrap their arms around us. The show blurred the line between audience and performers, with DJ sets throughout the night giving people the chance to hit the stage and shake their groove thing.  

Shine Bright at Sunset: Oceanside Pride Closing Spectacular

Saturday 13 December, Kardermudelar Karweeyn Mirring (Portland Bay Dance Ground)

We celebrated the end of the festival with a sunset variety show featuring local talent, alongside some of Australia's most awarded and exciting Queer performers. The crowd was welcomed to Gunditjmara country by Aunty Claudette Lovett, and invited to participate in a smoking ceremony at sunset, before the performances began and the party lights came on. It is hard to imagine a more magical setting than the dance ground at sunset, with the ocean just beside us, and the smell of ballart and eucalyptus smoke lingering in the air as we sang and danced the night away. 

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Media coverage and Promotional Materials

Digital-Newspaper-Portland-Observer-12-September-2025.pdf(PDF, 859KB)
Digital-Newspaper-Portland-Observer-23-December-2025.pdf(PDF, 2MB)
Oceanside-Pride-Poster.pdf(PDF, 2MB)
Event-signage.pdf(PDF, 577KB)
Oceanside-Pride-Lawn-Sign.pdf(PDF, 731KB)

Credits and Acknowledgements

The festival was produced by Portland Arts Centre with BEAT Entertainment and Performing Lines.

Oceanside Pride was supported through Victoria’s Pride, a partnership between the Victorian Government and Midsumma, with additional support from VicHealth and Amplify.

The Portland Arts Centre would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Aunty Denise, Aunty Amy, Aunty Hilary, Aunty Claudette, and all at Gunditj Mirring for sharing our vision for the festival as a chance to grow community connection and cultural safety.

Thank you for ensuring that everyone felt protected, loved, and truly at home throughout the festival, and for sharing the beautiful Kardermudelar Karweeyn Mirring dance ground for the final celebration and exchange. 

Tu-Ngootoo.