The Victorian Government has announced new support for the Victorian Pride Centre that will allow us to achieve our full potential. This support will let us finish our building, keep rent affordable for the community groups based here, and run more events for LGBTIQA+ Victorians.
On 27 October 2026, the Victorian Government announced it is providing funding to the Victorian Pride Centre. Like many community spaces, we’ve worked hard to keep the doors open and the rent low while living costs rise for everyone. This support gives us the security to keep doing that, and to grow.
What it means
First, we can finally finish the building. When the Victorian Pride Centre was designed, the plans included a rooftop Pavilion that was never completed. This funding means it will now be built, giving us a new space for events, celebrations, performances and gatherings. Hiring it out will also bring in income that helps keep the Centre running well into the future.
It also means rent and operational costs stays affordable for the 16 resident organisations that call our building home. They include mental health and legal services, arts and cultural groups, and Melbourne’s oldest queer bookshop. These groups face the same cost-of-living pressures as the people they support. Keeping their rent low means more of their funding goes to counselling sessions, legal advice, community programs and the people who rely on them.
And with more space and more security, we can host more community events throughout the year. That means more reasons to visit, connect and find your people.
Around the world, LGBTIQA+ people are facing growing hostility. Knowing there’s a safe, welcoming place to go matters more than ever.
“St Kilda has been a home for queer Victorians for generations. Fitzroy Street is where we’ve marched, gathered and found each other,” said our CEO, Paul Horwell. “The Pride Centre was built here deliberately, with a vision that was loud and proud. This investment means we can finally finish what we started and give the organisations who call this building home the security of affordable space.”
Minister for Equality Steve Dimopoulos said the funding “allows the Pride Centre to do more of what it already does, and do it with a sense of security.”
The Pride Centre has a special purpose for LGBTIQA+ communities, but our doors are open to all Victorians. As Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities Joe Ball put it, “The Pride Centre belongs to every Victorian. It has a special purpose for the LGBTIQA+ community, but it belongs to everyone to visit and enjoy – just like your local pool, the NGV and the Royal Exhibition Building.”
We thank the Victorian Government for its continued commitment to LGBTIQA+ Victorians. Most of all, we thank our community: the visitors, volunteers, donors, resident organisations and supporters who have made this building what it is. This is your Victorian Pride Centre, and its future is now more secure.