Happy birthday eve to the TDA Culture Newsletter! Tomorrow marks a year to the day since we launched this thing you’re reading. We started out with a couple of thousand subscribers (shout-out to the OGs like my in-laws). Today, I’m proud to say TDA Culture has grown to an audience of more than 27,000 loyal readers. If you’ve been here for a while, thanks for sticking with us. If you’re new, welcome – we’re just getting started.

I will be accepting cake and gifts across November because, after all, what good is a birthday if you don’t stretch it out into a month-long celebration?

“The National Songbook honours the songs that have left a lasting mark on Australia’s culture, identity and collective memory, and the songwriters and composers who brought them to life.”
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) has shared the first 10 songs to be included in the inaugural National Songbook, including Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’ and ‘My People’ by The Presets. New tracks will be added each year, “building a rich and diverse record of Australian musical creativity”.

1.7 million
The number of copies of the latest ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ (ACOTAR) book sold in preorders and on its release day, according to Variety. Book six in Sarah J. Maas’ fantasy franchise, ‘A Court of Splintered Harmony’, saw a 600% spike in first-day sales compared to the previous ACOTAR instalment, 2021’s ‘A Court of Silver Flames’.

Heidi Klum transformed into a bloody severed hand for the 25th anniversary of her famous Halloween bash in New York. After months of work to create the prosthetics, it took Klum’s team six hours to get her ready. One of the lead prosthetic artists called it “gore with taste” but… I’m not so sure.

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This week, the team behind Australia’s biggest LGBTQIA+ event officially unveiled most of the plans for the 49th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

In recent years, the iconic pride celebration has had a rough run with COVID cancellations, infighting on the Mardi Gras board and accusations of financial mismanagement which resulted in the last-minute cancellation of several major events in 2026.

Now the celebration is back with new events, new venues, and new sponsors, but a question mark over who will be headlining the whole thing.

Mardi Gras began as a protest on 24 June 1978, when several hundred people marched up Oxford Street to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots and demand gay and lesbian rights.

They were met with police violence, and the night ended in 53 arrests. The crackdown backfired, and by 1979 NSW Parliament had repealed the law that allowed the arrests. The marchers became known as the 78ers, and they’ve become a central fixture of the parade ever since.

A post-parade Party was added in 1980, and as Mardi Gras grew into a major tourism drawcard, the parade and its affiliated events became a multimillion-dollar production.

One of the key events in the Mardi Gras calendar is the official afterparty, which organisers call the ‘Party’. It takes place directly after the parade. Past headliners have included Kylie Minogue, Cher and Cyndi Lauper.

Trouble for the event started in 2020, when the Party lost its long-time home at the Royal Hall of Industries. Back then, tickets were averaging well over $200 a pop.

About 10,000 tickets were sold that year, even though the main venue only held 5,500, meaning thousands were stuck outside while headliners Dua Lipa, Sam Smith and Kesha performed. Organisers apologised, but the Party has lost money every year since, including in 2022 when COVID restrictions led to its cancellation.

In 2026, Mardi Gras CEO Jesse Matheson cancelled the Party just weeks before the festival began after the unannounced headline act fell through. Matheson also conceded the traditional format was “no longer fit for purpose”.

On Thursday, Mardi Gras held a press conference to announce plans for the 2027 edition. The festival has added a week to next year’s schedule, growing to 24 days under the theme ‘Hyperbloom’.

Coles Group has signed a three-year deal as the new principal partner, and new events include a free street fair in Darlinghurst.

And as for the afterparty? It is coming back on Saturday 6 March in a new home: the tunnels under Allianz Stadium, where the parade ends. However, Team Mardi Gras chose to withhold details about the event’s capacity, pricing and, most importantly, its headline act.

Asked if the Party headliner is locked in this time, Matheson told TDA “Yes.” On capacity, he said the tunnels could hold “thousands” but gave no number.

Looking to the 50th anniversary celebration in 2028, he confirmed the goal is to move the Party above ground into the stadium itself.

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

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Don’t blame it on the sunshine, don’t blame it on the moonlight, don’t blame it on the good times, blame it on the… padel?

Sydney boogiers will be Summer Dance-ing elsewhere, after the festival’s home was taken over by Sydney Racquet Club.

Summer Dance has been held at the Liberty Hall basketball courts since September 2023, but this week festivalgoers were left uncertain about its future.

“Nothing says we live in a thriving cultural city quite like trading a cultural hub for a game involving hitting balls,” organisers said.

Summer Dance launched as a series of events over a decade ago, with its first home at the National Art School in Darlinghurst in 2014. The touring company behind it, Astral People, describes the electronic and dance music festival as a “day-to-night party”.

The series went on hiatus after its 2019 season, returning in 2023 at the basketball courts outside Liberty Hall, part of the Entertainment Quarter precinct in Moore Park.

On a personal note, my TDA journey can be traced back to Summer Dance at the Liberty Hall courts during the 2025 Easter long weekend.

Through the smoke (machine) and lights, I spotted a familiar face in the crowd: TDA co-founder Sam. Naturally, I had to say hello and make myself known as both a journalist and a huge fan of his company.

Fast-forward about six months to when I saw a TDA job opening advertised. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sydney Racquet Club started in 2023, and is also based at Moore Park. Padel and pickleball players can hire their courts, and the club also runs tournaments and lessons.

Last year, Padel Australia said 90,000 Australians had played padel, a 50% increase on the previous year. Similarly, Pickleball Australia said membership grew by about 50% from 2024 to 2025, and an estimated 155,000 Australians now play the sport.

This week, Astral People posted to Instagram, saying “RIP THE COURTS 30.09.23 - 29.11.26.” A short time later, they confirmed Summer Dance’s home outside Liberty Hall was “being replaced by padel ball courts”. “Pickles are fun until you’re in one,” the post read.

Astral People Marketing Manager Claudia Haddon told TDA Sydney Racquet Club took over the permanent lease of the courts a few months ago. Astral People was “pushing to continue that relationship” with the club, but it “fell apart at the final hour”.

“Health and fitness and all of that stuff really matters to Sydney… but it’s really nice to see that culture and arts and the music is still so important,” Haddon said.

For a moment, fans wondered if the guillotine had fallen on yet another Aussie festival.

Aussie music fans breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when Astral People announced Summer Dance was relocating, not shutting shop.

Haddon explained the team wanted to wait until they had secured a new space to announce the news, but said they’re “really excited” Summer Dance has found a home in Marrickville, in Sydney’s Inner West.

From 9 January, they will be “taking over the entire space” at Saywell St, Haddon said. Haddon described the precinct as “really well-suited for this event”.

The final Summer Dance gigs at the Liberty Hall courts will take place on 15, 21 and 29 November. Haddon said “having the community and industry show up” for the final send-off “will be the most amazing thing”.

Who knows, maybe you’ll meet your future boss there!

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.