Exclusive: The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras organisation has lost its license to host the Bondi Beach Party during the Sydney Mardi Gras festival for up to five years, dealing a significant blow to the non-profit.
Sydney Mardi Gras lost the right to run the event after festival producer Fuzzy beat it in a confidential expression of interest tender process facilitated by Waverley Council that allowed several companies to go into the running to deliver it. Fuzzy is behind festivals including Listen Out, Field Day and Harbourlife.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Fuzzy told Gay Sydney News that it had reached out to Sydney Mardi Gras upon receiving the invitation from council to submit to the expression of interest.
“We now look forward to continuing conversations about how our event can be part of the Festival in 2026 and beyond,” it said.
Sydney Mardi Gras expressed disappointment in losing the licence to host the party.
“While disappointed that the license wasn’t awarded to an LGBTQIA+ organisation or not-for-profit, Mardi Gras remains the sole owner of the intellectual property regarding Bondi Beach Party 2023 and 2024,” it said in a statement to GSN.
“We planned for this possibility and continue to explore other options. We remain focused on delivering major events that directly benefit the LGBTQIA+ community. We look forward to sharing more soon.”
Gay Sydney News will soon publish a separate article going into further detail about why the council decided to put the Bondi party out to tender in the first place after it was assumed by many, including Mardi Gras staff, that the organisation would be able to hold the licence to run the event indefinitely.
The awarding of the licence to Fuzzy follows the Bondi Beach Party not being put on by Sydney Mardi Gras in 2025 despite it having permission by Waverley Council to do so.
It also follows only 5825 people attending the 2024 Bondi party (according to police estimates) when it was advertised to have a capacity of 15,000. This later led to Mardi Gras reporting that the Bondi party alone had resulted in it losing $1 million, forming a large part of the reason it reported a $1.2 million deficit last financial year despite it receiving a $1.1 million bailout from the NSW government and the City of Sydney.
The first time the Bondi Beach Party was held was during Sydney WorldPride in 2023, when it was run by Sydney WordPride, a since-dissolved organisation that was separate to Sydney Mardi Gras and which was led by chief executive Kate Wickett.
Wickett now runs Sydney’s City Recital Hall while Mardi Gras is run by Gil Beckwith, who was appointed interim CEO of the charity in May 2023 and formally appointed to the position in October the same year.
The decision for Fuzzy to be awarded the licence to host the Bondi party was made at a Waverley Council meeting on Tuesday night, where councillors unanimously voted for Fuzzy to deliver the event in 2026.
At the meeting, councillors further authorised the council’s general manager to complete negotiations and execute a licence agreement with Fuzzy to deliver the Bondi Beach Party for 2027 and 2028, with an option for two further years subject to Fuzzy complying with the terms and conditions of the licence.
This means Fuzzy will potentially hold the licence until 2030, a huge blow for Mardi Gras, which was considering using the outdoor music event as one of its key festival drawcards in future years.
Fuzzy told GSN it has been operating events throughout Australia and New Zealand for more than 25 years in some of the nation’s most unique locations, including hosting previous beach parties at Bondi.
“While we strive to make all our events inclusive we have also been involved with the LGBTQIA+ community through various projects across the decades including Steve and Ben’s Class Act at Sublime in the 1990’s and more recently collaborating with Heaps Gay in the delivery of the Wet Dreams event in 2024,” it said.
Fuzzy added that its managing director Adelle Robinson was a mentor to Heaps Gay’s Kat Dopper through the Women In Music program.
In previously unreported comments, Mardi Gras CEO Gil Beckwith told members at the organisation’s annual general meeting in December that while it wouldn’t be hosting the Bondi Beach Party during Mardi Gras in 2025, it was seeking to facilitate its return with a “low-risk” option.
“We haven’t given up on Bondi Beach Party,” Beckwith said at the time during scripted remarks.
“We have been exploring ways in which we can stage it in a financially sustainable way to ensure that it can thrive. The love our community showed for Bondi Beach Party proves its cultural value and we are determined to find a model that allows it to be both successful and sustainable.”
Sydney Mardi Gras told GSN the low-risk option its CEO was referring to was partnering with events business Live Nation Australasia when it was forced to bid for the licence to run the event as part of the Waverley Council tender process – a bid it ultimately lost.
In response to a Mardi Gras member’s question at the annual general meeting about why the organisation was still pursuing the beach party despite its negative financial impact and low attendance in 2024, Beckwith reiterated that “the option that we’re looking at around Bondi Beach Party is a very, very, very low-risk option for Mardi Gras. Whether it comes off or not, that’s not to be said; it’s still worth investigating”.
She added that it was “actually something that we need to investigate in terms of how we go forward providing spaces for our … [official Mardi Gras] party”.
“As we are well aware, the party is not the cash cow that it used to be.
“So how … we’re actually moving to the space … [where we ensure] that people have the opportunity to celebrate together with their friends is very challenging.
“If we move away from, say, the Hordern Pavilion on parade night, something that we’ve been doing, going to for a long time … if we step out of that event we will lose that space, and I think that’s something we need to consider in terms of the DNA of Mardi Gras.
“So we are constantly looking for other opportunities for ensuring that our community have ways of partying.
“It’s actually quite challenging. Venues that are available to us are short, small, they’re not [available] overnight, not a lot are properly licensed or [are] very cost-prohibitive.”
Editor’s note: This article was written by Ben Grubb, who pays $50 annually for Mardi Gras memberships to access discounts, including at retail stores and bars, but doesn’t use the membership’s voting rights.
Gay Sydney News editor