We are working towards running an annual summertime event. One that captures the essence of the original FOLSOM street fair, but also showcases the Folsom vibe that has grown throughout the history of queer subculture in Australian and New Zealand. 

We acknowledge that it won’t currently be possible to replicate the exact theme of the original festival and nor do we want to be a carbon copy of it. Nevertheless, we will work within the current laws and regulations to provide you with an event that hits all the right notes of what the Folsom vibe is all about. And showcase what is the best on offer in the filthy fun events and venues we already have down under.

Follow our social media account @folsom.down.under on Instagram to keep up with our progress on the annual event, and other Folsom sponsored activities throughout the year.

In addition to running a festival event, and supporting members of the community to run their own activities, our mission includes advocacy. We’re talking to the community to capture the history of queer subculture and, where possible, advocating for more inclusive public policy. So that ultimately no one has to feel ashamed or hide things, and can more easily find the many like minded humans they relate to.

In the process, we’re also designing new resources and processes that are useful for associations across the whole community. While connecting people to the excellent resources already available from other community associations.

No, because the greater risk is staying silent, repressed and uninformed. So what we’re all about is active, free and voluntary consent, safety and open communication. Because assumptions, shame and hiding things are just plain dangerous. If kink and fetish content is hidden and suppressed, it can lead to people trying something unfamiliar without proper information. Or people being encouraged into something by someone without enough experience and without fully understanding what’s being suggested. So everything we are involved with will include the best practices for communicating and monitoring safe consenting behaviours.

In the end we just want people to feel empowered to share with each other, normalise these topics, and thus learn how to do things safely and to keep each other safe.

If it fits with the Folsom Vibe, yes! Please get in touch. We’re keen to establish subcommittees and grant others permission to use the Folsom brand to promote an activity or event. We’re prepared to contribute what we can to further the Folsom Down Under mission. That also means providing space at the annual festival event for community groups to show off their adventurous sides in a safe and affirming environment.

Our management committee consists of the members listed on our website. You can find more information about them at the bottom of this page.

Our committee was appointed from nominations by community members who requested membership to the association. We are all volunteers and have limited resources, so we acknowledge that we don’t yet have every gender represented on our committee, nor do we have someone from every diversity demographic. But we’re definitely happy to take requests for members and nominations for management committee positions at our meetings. 

What we do have is lived experience in pursuing diversity for all genders and those that never had language to describe themselves before (while living and outwardly expressing non gendered identity), experience living with perceptible and non visible disability/neurodiversity, and experience challenging ableist policy and management practices that suppress anyone outside the most neurotypical, privileged and dominant demographic. So we definitely are not going to persist with any limited representations of the community.

Diversity and inclusion is one of the things we are looking to improve. Historically we acknowledge fetish events have been geared towards a narrow demographic. The subculture of Folsom was born from gay male culture and expression; nevertheless our new committee have lived experience in challenging male dominated norms and expanding the representation and access to activities to more than just one gender, and more than just those with the ability to physically attend or be able to access a space or venue. While we aren’t reinventing the Folsom brand, we will do what we can  to expand what’s available so that everyone can enjoy what makes our queer subculture so great.

We aren’t running multiple events, and are planning a regular festival in the summer. Outside of this we will be promoting and supporting existing community groups to run their own activities. And that will definitely mean prioritising broader demographics.