'The Main Event' - Event and Festival Pioneer; Johnny Allen

Johnny Allen is a seminal figure in alternative arts and culture in Australia, and a recognised pioneer of the event industry, often referred to as the 'Father of Events' in Australia. He published and edited Masque national magazine of the performing arts from 1965 to 1968, and wrote The Entertainment Arts in Australia published by Paul Hamlyn Sydney in 1968. In the early 1970s he ran the indy music venue The Arts Factory in Surry Hills. In 1972, as Cultural Director of the Australian Union of Students, he established a national touring circuit including activists such as Ralph Nader, Spike Milligan, Phil Ochs, Ron Cobb and Richard Neville. In 1973 he produced the Nimbin Aquarius Festival with Festival Director Graeme Dunstan. After spending time in the US in the mid-1970s, he returned to Sydney and ran the Paris Theatre opposite Hyde Park, producing the first gay film festival, Images of Gays in 1978. He went on to start the radical performance collective Cabaret Conspiracy, the Gay Theatre Company, and Palms Cabaret in Oxford Street. In 1985, he directed the 25th Anniversary Mattara Festival of Newcastle, and went on to direct that city's celebrations of Australia's Bicentenary in 1988, including the State Music Festival, the Royal Visit of the Queen and Prince Phillip, and The Longest Birthday Party on the Newcastle Foreshore, awarded Best Australia Day Event of the Bicentennial year. He returned to Sydney in 1989 as Event Manager for the Darling Harbour Authority, positioning it as 'where Sydney celebrates' with an annual program including major celebrations of Australia Day and New Year's Eve. Now semi-retired, Johnny continues to practise event management, coordinating the cabaret program for the Sedition Festival in 2019, the Golden Mile Gallery exhibition of gay history in 20 shopfronts in Oxford Street as a feature event of the Oxtravaganza program for Mardi Gras in 2020, and gay cultural history exhibitions for Mardi Gras in 2021 and 2022. He is a board member of the proposed queer museum project Qtopia Sydney, a consultant to the State Library queer exhibition in 2023, and is currently preparing a major gay cultural program for Sydney WorldPride in 2023. Next Thursday June 16th he is presenting a Queer themed evening of events at the Powerhouse Museum - up late! The evening is part of the IDEAS program for the VIVID festival - now enthralling patrons across Sydney. Johnny joined STAGES to discuss this event - and a life-time creating memories. The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Whooshkaa, Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages). www.stagespodcast.com.au