NIDA comes out: Led by Tom Ballard, the first event in NIDA’s In Conversation series, ‘Love is Love’, spotlights the love that for so long was under and misrepresented in the entertainment industry.

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For almost half of NIDA’s 60 years, homosexual activity was illegal, persecuted and discriminated against at all levels of law and society in Australia. This had a major impact on how LGBTQI+ stories were told on stage and screen – if at all.

This Valentine’s Day, as part of NIDA’s 60th anniversary celebrations, multi-award-winning Australian storytellers including comedian and broadcaster Tom Ballard, Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Director Kip Williams, award-winning performance artist and theatre director Harriet Gillies and film maker and Queer Screen board member Leah Pellinkhof come to NIDA to participate in In Conversation: Love is Love.

This panel discussion will look at LGBTQI+ depictions in film, theatre and television, and their impact on the lived experience and the national consciousness, including controversies such as straight actors playing gay and lesbian roles, and whether gender fluid roles are being written and viewed differently.

This event is part of NIDA's 60th Anniversary celebrations.

Tom Ballard is a stand-up comedian, writer, actor, broadcaster, philanthropist and philanderer. He has appeared on everything from The Project, Spicks and Specks and It’s A Date. In 2016, he took part in First Contact, a landmark documentary series that places well known Australians on a journey through Indigenous Australia. He’s guest-hosted the political discussion show Q&A and also fronted SBS’s coverage of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. As a stand-up, Tom is one of the country’s most compelling and insightful voices and will bring his new show Enough to audiences across Australia in 2019.

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