Midsumma muscles in with dance party plans
BY RON BELL
The Midsumma organisation has thrown down the gauntlet to the ALSO Foundation with an announcement this week that it will stage a large scale millennial dance party next year - possibly the day after Red Raw.
The party - to be called 'Summer 2000' - is part of Midsumma's long term strategy to establish an independent funding base.
Midsumma President, Tracey Wall, said that although she did not want community groups scrambling for the dance dollar, with the proliferation of dance parties and small boutique parties, the ALSO dance party "monopoly" had come to an end.
Wall said that 'Summer 2000' - which will be modelled on European dance parties - could be held Australia Day eve.
The Festival is also interested in sponsoring a new lesbian and gay community awards night as a successor to the Rainbow awards, which ended in 1997.
Midsumma is also looking at the possibility of running a lesbian golf tournament and a surfing carnival. And, in a follow-up to last year's 'Eclipse' dance party, Wall announced this week that Midsumma would stage two boutique dance parties annually, the first being 'Illicit', to be held at Hi Fi Club, formerly Wall Street, on 1 May.
The party will feature Sydney's "laser goddess" Tracey Bourke, who stunned Melbourne's clubbers with her performance at last year's 'Eclipse'.
The purpose of these parties is to raise funds for Midsumma and to stake a claim for the future" Wall said.
Wall said it was "disappointing" that ALSO had decided to run 'Resurrection' as a small scale disco during Easter.
"ALSO has a corner with large to medium scale dance parties. They're not contributing anything by running a disco. But competition is good and this clears the path for us to run a huge dance party in 2000."
Wall, who has a background in events management and who was once production manager for ALSO dance parties, said a venue for the  'Summer 2000' had yet to be determined. Claire Beckwith, one of the party organisers, said that Midsumma had chosen the name 'Illicit' for this May's party because 'Eclipse' had been "appropriated" by another dance party late last year.
She said 'Illicit' would appeal to a broad cross-section of the gay and lesbian community and that the music would not be "hard techno. "It will be sexy, funky, down and dirty music with a couple of anthems tossed in at 6.00 am when we're all suitably trashed."
Melbourne Star Observer 26th March QANNOUNCE WEBSITE @ http//announce.queer.org.au/

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10% Plus announces its first funding recipients
Perth,s gay and lesbian business association, 10% Plus, last month donated over A$4,000 raised at its monthly dinners to community groups and charities.
The recipients of the funding were Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays [P-FLAG] (Perth Inc.) A$1,200, The Lymphoedema Association of WA A$1,000, The Cancer Foundation (Breast Cancer Support Services) A$1,000, and prostate cancer research A$1,000.
The president of 10% Plus, Mike Chester, said the association's committee had called for funding submissions from gay and lesbian and cancer support groups which did not receive Government funding and required financial assistance.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) Perth Inc., will be using the funds it received to reprint a booklet called 'Somebody You Love', initially produced in conjunction with the 'Here For Life' youth suicide prevention project.
The Lymphoedema Association of WA received funding towards purchasing a machine which measures fluid levels, and compression suits which assist in draining limbs affected by Lymphoedema, a condition which results from the removal of lymph nodes during surgery for breast, cervical and ovarian cancers.
The Breast Cancer Support Service of the Cancer foundation will use its funding to assist women who undergo chemo. or radiotherapy and suffer hair loss as a result. One of the services they provide is a wig 'library' for patients who suffer hair loss.
The final A$1,000 will be channelled into research on prostate cancer, one of the biggest health threats to older men.
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