Yarra Trams invites Melbourne artists to design 2024 #AllAboard Pride tram
Yarra Trams has today launched a competition inviting Victorians to design next year’s #AllAboard pride tram following the success of the 2022 contest. This is the only tram designed by the public, with the winner to be decided by a public vote.
The #AllAboard tram is one of the most recognisable on Melbourne’s iconic tram network and is a popular feature in the annual Pride March in St Kilda. The #AllAboard Tram is a tangible representation of Keolis Downer’s (the operator of Yarra Trams) commitment to inclusion, demonstrating everyone is welcome in Melbourne and aboard the tram network.
To deliver this initiative, Keolis Downer will once again partner with Australia’s premier queer arts and culture organisation Midsumma as well as LGBTQIA+ media organisation JOY Media, the operator of JOY 94.9, and be joined in 2024 by the Victorian Pride Centre (VPC). Victoria’s home for numerous LGBTQI+ organisations, the VPC will host two Yarra Trams exhibitions in June, July, and August to raise awareness of the design competition.
Design submissions can be received over the next eight weeks, until August 11, via the Yarra Trams website and will be reviewed by a panel of ten judges, including the Minister for Public Transport, Ben Carroll MP. The finalists will be presented to Melbourne for a public vote to decide the winner. Voting will be open for the entire month of September.
The winning design will be wrapped around a D-class tram that will run on Melbourne’s tram network, the world’s largest, for an entire year. The second placed design will be wrapped around a tram shelter in the vicinity of the Victorian Pride Centre for the Victorian Pride March in February.
In 2024 #AllAboard tram will once again serve as one of the highlights of the Pride March as it rolls down the closed streets of the parade cheered on by thousands of onlookers. For the last three years Yarra Trams employees have proudly marched with this symbol of inclusion and diversity.
The winning artist will be awarded $5,000 for their artwork, while the second-placed artist will take home $3,000.
It is expected the winning design and final wrapped tram will be unveiled to the public in mid-December at the tram’s home depot in Malvern.
The current #AllAboard D-class tram (#3531) is wrapped in last year’s winning design by Melbourne-based artist Marco Pennacchia and operates on routes 5, 6, 16, and 72. Templates, design brief, terms and conditions, and submission portal can be accessed here.
Keolis Downer (Yarra Trams) Chief Executive Officer, Carla Purcell:
“The #AllAboard tram is an important symbol of the diversity, acceptance, and inclusion we strive for in our workplaces, on our trams and across our city.
“I’m incredibly proud to be partnering with JOY Media, Midsumma, and the Victorian Pride Centre on this special project, and I absolutely cannot wait to see the designs Melburnians come up with for 2024 about what #AllAboard means to them.”
Victorian Pride Centre Chief Executive Officer, Justine Dalla Riva:
“The #AllAboard tram design competition is a fabulous showcase of LGBTIQ+ creativity and representation, while also being so quintessentially Melbourne! We are thrilled to partner with Yarra Trams, alongside JOY Media and Midsumma, to help bring a new design to the tracks and spread a message of pride across our beautiful city.”