The Gumboot Collective is an arts-based not-for-profit organisation, entirely run by volunteers, which coordinates the Gippsland Writers Festival as well as the annual Chalk Art Festival and other arts events in and around Yarram. The area is quite isolated and there are limited supports for the LGBTQIA+ community apart from Sale, Morwell and Traralgon, each about an hour away.
They have received a small grant towards their project The Rainbow Dispatch, a video project that aims to offer up commentary and document every fabulous, thought-provoking moment of the Gippsland Writers Festival through a dedicated LGBTQIA+ lens by a high-definition, unapologetically queer video team armed with cameras, microphones, and a healthy dose of sass.
The Rainbow Dispatch will launch at The Gippsland Writers Festival 2026, which is located in Yarram (Wellington Shire). The festival runs across three days in July 2026, but the Rainbow Dispatch will kick off before that, online, and will hopefully remain active after. The reports will be featured on social media and the website which will increase the reach of the project.
The purpose of this project is to capture the energy of the festival while also providing unique opportunities for our local queer community to express themselves. The Rainbow Dispatch will include interviews, vox pos with guests on the street, advice from writers and LGBTQIA+ support workers.
