Mardi Gras Sydney: Delta Goodrem Brings Teeth to Mardi Gras

Delta Goodrem's bright white smile will be working overtime at this weekend's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras when she performs as the new ambassador for a tooth-whitening product.
Goodrem will perform as toothpaste brand Oral Bs new ambassador at the event on Saturday night, it was announced on Monday.

"Smiles are infectious, they bring out confidence and powerful connections between people, so I'm delighted to be involved in this years Mardi Gras Parade and to be partnering with such an incredible brand," Goodrem gushed.

The Voice Kids judge will perform mid-parade on the Oral-B float.

The tooth whitener is the official sponsor of Mardi Gras photographers.

Sydney's Mardi Gras is celebrating 35 years of gay pride. This year's gay parade and festival will take the theme Generations of Love, a reference to the first Mardi Gras march in Sydney in 1978 and the ongoing struggle for equality.

Perth To Go Gaga

It is shaping up as the biggest year of live music in Perth's history.

Following tour announcements already this week from Kanye West and Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga has revealed she will head Down Under in August with her artRAVE, The ARTPOP Ball tour.

The eccentric pop star, right, will open the Australian leg of the tour at Perth Arena on August 20.

Gaga's die-hard fans, known as Little Monsters, have the chance to get up close and personal with the Bad Romance singer if they are willing to spend big.

For $1499, fans can sit inside an on-stage viewing area, known as the ARTPOP Zone, and then have an after-show meet and greet with Gaga in a private lounge area with cocktails and beverages. They will also get a photo with the singer.

Tickets go on sale at noon on Tuesday through Ticketek, starting at $92.65

Big Picture Film Festival 2014

The Big Picture Film Festival will upend your expectations of a film festival. It is a unique, boutique collection of the most exciting new documentary and fiction films from around the world.

The Festival showcases those who have taken a stand against social inequality. It is about those who have, and are, making change in society. It’s about showing how involvement, passion and commitment can bring about positive change and it encourages you to get involved.

Each of the carefully selected films are stimulating, provocative and persuasive in their examination of issues important to us all. So be part of a movement for change by seeing The Big Picture Film Festival.

See. Think. Change.

EVENT SCHEDULE:

 Wednesday 19 March 20147:00 PM Event Cinema CityBelle | Opening Night

Thursday 20 March 2014 6:30 PM Event Cinema CityThe Missing Picture

8:30 PM Event Cinema CityBlue Caprice 

 Friday 21 March 2014 2:00 PM Event Cinema CityBelle

 6:30 PM Event Cinema CityDormant Beauty

 8:45 PM Event Cinema CityTrap Street

 Saturday 22 March 20141:00 PM Event Cinema CitySneezing Baby Panda

 6:00 PM Event Cinema CityIf You Build It

 8:30 PM Event Cinema CityMetro Manila

 Sunday 23 March 2014 2:00 PM Event Cinema CityGideons Army

 4:00 PM Event Cinema CityBeatriz's War

6:30 PMEvent Cinema CityAL Helm Martin Luther King in Palestine

Monday 24 March 20142:00 PMEvent Cinema CityThe New World

6:30 PMEvent Cinema CityHalf of a Yellow Sun

8:30 PMEvent Cinema CityBlood Brother

 Tuesday 25 March 2014 2:00 PM Event Cinema CityDormant Beauty

6:30 PMEvent Cinema CityNo Evidence of disease

 Wednesday 26 March 2014 6:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolRise Of The Eco-Warriors

 8:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolMiss Nikki and The Tiger Girls

Thursday 27 March 2014 11:00 AM Event Cinema LiverpoolBelle

 6:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolAL Helm Martin Luther King in Palestine

 8:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolBlood Brother

 Friday 28 March 2014 11:00 AMEvent Cinema LiverpoolHalf of a Yellow Sun

6:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolThe Missing Picture 

8:30 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolMetro Manila 

 Saturday 29 March 2014 1:00 PM Event Cinema LiverpoolSneezing Baby Panda

 6:30 PM Casula Powerhouse Arts CentreIf You Build It

 Saturday 22 March 2104 4:00 PM Event Cinema CityMiss Nikki and The Tiger Girls

View the official Big Picture Film Festival Website

Metro Hotels is an official sponsor of the Big Picture Film Festival

Perth International Arts Festival 2014

Perth International Arts Festival 2014 is the longest running and best loved international arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere.

This year is the 62nd annual Festival. In 2013 Festival shows sold more than $5 million worth of tickets, with attendances of over 500,000 from a city of under 2 million people: we sell more tickets per capita than any international arts festival in Australia.

The 62nd Perth Festival kicks off on Friday, 7 February and runs until 1 March. The diverse program offers a world-class cultural feast for arts lovers of all ages and persuasions. In a quintessentially Western Australian experience, more than 1000 of the world's most exciting contemporary artists transform and disrupt Perth as the Festival spills across unique venues and glorious, outdoor spaces.

Living up to its worldwide reputation for excellence, in 2014 the Festival delivers a program of unforgettable, enriching works, created by artists who are daring, thoughtful, and innovative, with 26 Australian exclusives, 33 Australian premieres and two world premieres.

Perth Festival Artistic Director Jonathan Holloway said: "The 2014 Perth Festival collaborates with the world's greatest artists and many of Western Australia's most creative and talented people to find new and exciting ways to create a Festival in and of Perth. Joining us in our exploration of what it is to be a 21st Century festival in the remotest and yet most connected capital city in the Southern Hemisphere are Robert Wilson, Dawn Upshaw, Martin Amis, The National, William Kentridge, Tod Machover and Public Enemy, to name just 20 of the 1000+ artistic collaborators."

The 2014 Festival explodes in a spectacle of wonder with the Lotterywest Festival Spectacular Veles e Vents, supported by Eventscorp. For three nights over the opening weekend, the Spanish masters of public theatre take to the seas and the sky, recreating a ship's grand and perilous voyage in a sublime visual display of fireworks and light. Suitable for the whole family, the exclusive Australian premiere promises to kick off the 2014 Festival with an explosion of music and movement.

The Festival's free program takes art to the people as the streets of Perth are playfully transformed and life re-imagined. Sam Routledge & Martyn Coutts' I Think I Can brings avatars to life in an enchanted model town. The Lotterywest Festival Celebration, Jeremy Deller's Sacrilege, invites Festival goers to literally leap into ancient history, re-creating Stonehenge as a full-scale bouncy castle.

The Chevron Festival Gardens become the ambient Festival hub as guests gather, discuss and participate, with free entry to the Garden from 5pm until late Wednesday-Saturday and 6.30pm until late Sunday-Tuesday.

The 2014 Theatre and Circus program traverses the spectrum from the gritty to the surreal, inviting the world's most acclaimed performers to the Australian stage. Modern master of the Russian avant-garde, Dmitry Krymov, makes his Australian debut with A Midsummer Night's Dream (As You Like It), a whirling re-imagining of history's first great love story, that of Pyramus and Thisbe. From Israel comes the Australian premiere of Not by Bread Alone: 11 deaf-blind actors take audiences on a profoundly moving journey through their inner world, as bread is kneaded, formed and baked on stage. Raw and explosive, South Africa's Yael Farber adapts Strindberg's classic Miss Julie to post-apartheid South Africa in Mies Julie, revealing theatre at its most potent.

Theatre genius Robert Wilson returns to Perth in the exclusive Australian premiere of Samuel Beckett's blackly comic masterpiece, Krapp's Last Tape. From New York, Perth welcomes An Iliad, superstar Denis O'Hare's riveting one-man performance of Homer's Trojan epic. The UK's internationally renowned NoFit State Circus brings circus as you've never seen it with the Australian premiere of Bianco, a graceful, aerial adventure of drama and breathtaking ability which immerses the audience in the action.


Further highlights include two Festival co-commissions. Malthouse Theatre's The Shadow King is an explosive interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear, melding contemporary Aboriginal storytelling in a blood-soaked interrogation of kinship, land and belonging. Co-commissioned by the Festival, Opus fuses the contemporary circus of Australia's finest, Circa, with dynamic music of Shostakovitch performed by France's Debussy String Quartet.

You Once Said Yes is unforgettable one-on-one theatre. As part of our Vital Stages program, we bring Look Left Look Right together with Western Australian artists to create a thrilling theatrical experience for the people of Perth. One of the most exciting theatre collectives in the world, Germany's Rimini Protokoll presents the Australian exclusive of Situation Rooms. In this multi-dimensional, interactive documentary theatre experience, audiences explore a maze of stories from people whose lives have been touched by the weapons industry. This is theatre like you've never experienced it before.

Top Ten Must See Events at This Year's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

1. THE MARDI GRAS DISCO CLIMB

Talk about getting high on life. If God is a DJ then this rainbow themed dancefloor atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge is surely heaven. Can you think of a better way to herald in Mardi Gras season than combining disco with bridge climb? Thought not.

The climb has limited departures and is only available during Mardi Gras. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Disco Climb. Mardi Gras 2014. Source: Supplied

2. THE 36TH ANNUAL SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS PARADE

Sydney is home to the loudest, proudest, largest and most-loved celebrations of the LGBTQI community on Earth. Join hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the route along Oxford and Flinders streets on Saturday, March 1. Plant a smile on your face and simply enjoy the wild ride.

Rain, hail or shine, revellers gather along the route. Source: News Limited

3. FAIR DAY

If Parade is the party then Fair Day is the fete of Mardi Gras season. Get along to Victoria Park on City Rd, Chippendale on Sunday, February 9 for this all-day family-friendly picnic celebration. Enjoy roving drag performers, gourmet food, loads of market stalls and the Doggywood tent for pampered pooches.

Performers Mrs Vera, Dob Downe and Mr Tina pictured at Mardi Gras Fair Day. Source: News Limited

4. JOHN WATERS LIVE AND IN PERSON

American filmmaker John Waters, he of the pencil-thin moustache, appears for one night only at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, March 9. The cult figure, who appears on Sunday, March 9, is responsible for Hollywood gems Hairspray and Cry-Baby and is notoriously candid about the downside of fame.

Filmmaker, playwright, comedian and man for all seasons John Waters appears for one night only at the Sydney Opera House. Source: Supplied

5. PAM ANN presents PLANE FILTHY

Pam Ann is the anything-goes air hostess alter-ego of Australian comedian Caroline Reid. Get set for some seriously funny observations on air travel through the golden age. Not to be missed. Reid performs over two nights, February 27 and 28, at the State Theatre. Punters will also be presented with a complimentary glass of sparkly and a Pam Ann compact and fridge magnet. All class!

Pam Ann A plane sitting on the tarmac at an airport. Very high resolution 3D render. Source:Supplied

6. KINGS & QUEENS of CABARET

Enjoy a stellar Mardi Gras cabaret season at the Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst all this month. Among the headliners will be Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham, who will debut his own show. The multi-talented Mitcham is joined by queen of country Beccy Cole and a host of other performers. Check out the full program at mardigras.org.au

To get you warmed up for the main event, here's a little gold medal entree from Mr Mitcham

MATTHEW MITCHAM GOLD MEDAL DIVE

7. COURTNEY ACT in BOYS LIKE ME

Following sold-out seasons in New York and Los Angeles, Australia's own Courtney Act performs hit cabaret show Boys Like Me for one night only, February 25, at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay. Act is a bona fide homegrown superstar at the top of her game. Boys Like Me tackles masculinity, femininity and dirty laundry.

COURTNEY ACT IN BOYS LIKE ME

8. HARBOUR PARTY

Summer sun, an iconic harbour and big dance beats combine to make the Mardi Gras Harbour Party a hot ticket item this season. Gather at the Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie's Point on Saturday, February 22 from 3pm. Bring your dancing shoes. Already confirmed acts include British DJ Joey Negro and Paul Goodyear from the US.

Joey Negro plays the Harbour Party on February 22. Source: Supplied

9. RAINBOW RUN

Fitness freaks unite and show your support for equal love by taking part in the Rainbow Run. Held Saturday, February 8 in Sydney Park, St Peters participants should be at the start line of the 6km course by 10am. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Equal Love initiatives in Australia. A DJ set broadcasted throughout the circuit has been designed to keep participants motived.

Show your support for marriage equality by taking part in the Rainbow Run. Source: News Limited

10. THE VAUDEVILLIANS featuring JINKX MONSOON

Those well abreast of the reality television hit RuPaul's Drag Race will already be familiar with irrepressible narcoleptic drag queen Jinkx Monsoon. The Season 5 champion makes her Australian debut with co-star Major Scales at the Vanguard, Newtown from February 18 until March 2.