Photographer and writer Jure Perisic travelled to Amsterdam’s Milkshake Festival, sharing their stunning images with GCN. 

Thick, thin, small, large, gay, straight, trans, Black, white and everyone in between gathers every summer in Amsterdam’s Westerpark to celebrate love and diversity. If you haven’t heard about the Milkshake Festival, you’ve missed out!

Established in 2012, Milkshake showcases an eclectic fusion of musical genres, from electronic, house, disco and pop to techno, R&B and dancehall. The festival features both international and local DJs, live acts and performers, ensuring an almost utopian experience for its visitors.

But it is also important to emphasise that in addition to the impressive lineup, tons of glitter and stunning outfits, the festival team is working hard to create and give a platform to artists and performers that belong to underrepresented groups.

According to the festival website: “Milkshake is more than just a party, it’s about community and cultures, statements, social impact, and creating awareness. Aiming to help guide everyone to the same place of being activists and empowering each other is what we believe should be implemented into a daily routine. We encourage all Milkshake visitors to align with our values in order to create an inclusive and safe environment for everyone to feel welcome”.

Each year, the Milkshake Festival partners with the For All Who Love Foundation, a foundation paying special attention to marginalised groups in 4 pillars: LGBTQ+, older adults, people with disabilities, and supports projects against racism and any form of discrimination.

Over a thousand LGBTQ+ visitors with psychological and/or physical disabilities and their caretakers find their way to the Westerpark to enjoy a full-blown festival experience.

And what would be an open-minded summer festival in the heart of Amsterdam without drag queens?  Drag queens are pillars of the LGBTQ+ community and were among the first on the front lines of some of the most pivotal events in our history.

Today, they are performers and activists who are still fighting hard for equality. The galore stage is a festival program that gathers over 50 diverse and unique performers who have the chance to display and feature their characters and spread the message of love.

If that all sounds great (and let’s face it, it does!), you can register on Milkshake Festival’s mailing list to be kept up to date for next year’s tickets and announcement and follow Jure Perisic on Instagram to check out more of his gorgeous work.