At this year’s vibrant Midsumma Carnival Day, Vision Australia Radio and JOY 94.9 welcomed Josh Lynzaat to its live outside broadcast from the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Josh is the person behind accessibility coordination for Midsumma’s major events.
With the sound of music in the background and a bustling Alexandra Gardens surrounding them, Josh sat down to discuss the behind‑the‑scenes work needed to ensure one of Australia’s largest queer festivals remains inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to everyone.
Although Midsumma spans hundreds of events across multiple weeks, Josh’s particular role focuses on the big three: Carnival, Pride March, and Victoria’s Pride Street Party. Even within this scope, accessibility work is vast and complex. As Josh explained, the job requires understanding production workflows, ticketing systems, programming priorities, and inter‑team communication. Every accessible feature at the festival - from Auslan interpreters to tactile tours - must be coordinated well in advance to seamlessly serve visitors on the day.
And those accessible features were abundant at Carnival. Josh outlined a thoughtful suite of supports: tactile tours, running from 11:30 to 1:30; describer guides available until 4 p.m.; Auslan interpreters on every stage throughout the day; accessible viewing platforms; and a designated accessible drop‑off area. These provisions ensure that deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, low vision, and mobility impaired attendees can participate fully in the festivities.
Community feedback has been key to refining accessibility. Midsumma actively encourages festival-goers to contribute through onsite QR codes, staff training, and external consultants who audit the event. One major improvement this year was the enhancement of the festival’s social story - an accessibility tool especially valued by autistic and neurodiverse community members. Quiet areas have also been improved, offering a calmer retreat from the often intense sensory experience of Carnival.
For attendees living with disability, seeking accessible shows across the broader festival program, Josh pointed out that the Midsumma website includes filters that allow users to search by accessible features such as relaxed performances, tactile tours, audio description, or Auslan interpretation. Pride March offers audio description via headset at its accessible viewing platform, while the Victoria’s Pride Street Party provides tactile tours and describer guides throughout the day.
Some accessibility challenges, however, remain. “Midsumma is a high‑sensory environment,” Josh noted - hot, loud, and crowded. Long‑term plans for outdoor events include an on-site low sensory caravan.
Josh also spoke candidly about what drew him into accessibility advocacy. As a young artist in a mentorship program, he encountered the politics of access for the first time. It struck him as “so obvious and black and white,” and he couldn’t understand why accessibility wasn’t consistently prioritised. That early frustration grew into a career-long passion for supporting disabled audiences and educating emerging artists. When young creatives learn inclusive practices early, he emphasised, accessibility becomes embedded rather than an afterthought.
Beyond coordinating accessibility for the festival, Josh also leads tactile tours, giving blind and low‑vision audiences hands-on access to sets, props, and artist insights before performances. It’s one more way Midsumma strives to include the full spectrum of its community.
Warm, informed, and full of conviction, Josh left listeners with a clear message: accessibility is not an optional extra - it’s essential to queer community, culture, and pride. Midsumma Festival runs until February 8. Vision Australia Radio is a proud access and inclusion partner to the annual festival.
Hear, or read, the interview here:
