Saturday, December 13, 2025
Australia & NZEducation

Bear Community Presentation at the 2025 Better Together Conference

Luka Musicki

Pictured above: Bear Community Visibility and Awareness Presentation by the Deputy Editor for Austrlaian Content, Luka Musicki, at the 2025 Better Together Conference.

The 2025 Better Together Conference event (which occured on Friday 31st October and 1st November 2025) is the National LGBTIQA+ conference that occurs in Australia every year. The conference invites various LGBTIQA+ leaders from various backgrounds and interests to share insights, ideas, awareness and connections. The conference includes Better Talk Presentations, Panel discussions and workshops.

This event was organised by The Equality Project team, who organise training, LGBTIQA+ policy guidance, changemaker masterclasses, various LGBTIQA+ resources, other than the conference itself. I would like to thank Adrian Tuazon-McCheyne for the wonderful pictures taken of me and the care from the team. Thanks.

The 2025 Conference Program included many wonderful noteworthy key speakers, including myself. I presented a Better Talk presentations titled, ” Bear Community Visibility and Awareness – Discovering the Brief History, Understanding the Polar and Terminology, Experiencing the Gay Bear Culture and Customs, Establishing Bear Kindred Community Support, Embracing Bear Kindred Community Support, Embracing body positivity and visibilities, and Supporting the queer community with a warm bear hug.

Yes, it is a long title, but if you were to summarise it, it would be, “Bear Community Visibility and Awareness”. It was a well-received presentation with a filled up room of interested audience members. I will not go too much into it, but the presentation slides below will provide more insights into my presentation.

I would like to thank the following people for their artist support (and indirect support) for the presentation:

‘>Ryan Mund – Facebook (personal), Facebook (Bearlygoin), and Instagram and Redbubble

>Saul Aguilar – Facebook and Instagram (1) and Instagram (2)

>Don Chooi – Facebook and Instagram

>Mulga the Artist/Joel – Facebook

>Ann-Marie Calihanna – Facebook

>Mike – Facebook

>Tina Nikolovski – Instagram

>Nathan J Lester (visual artist) – Facebook

I would like to thank Frank Strona for allowing me to use bits of his presentation for my own presentation, if you want to know more about bear culture, check out the following links: Tedx via YouTube and MentorSF.

I hope to present more about the bear community in future LGBTIQA+ and mainstream conferences.

If you would like me to present for your conference or community, please let me know, but it is best to get the grandest bear with years of experience, Frank Strona, to be the first to be considered for this honour.

Luka Musicki

Luka is the Deputy Editor for Australian content for Bear World Magazine, part of Gray Jones Media. Luka is producing interviews with Australian and international bears, producing Australian city guides and interesting fun articles. His vision is to create a vibrant and supportive platform that celebrates the diverse spectrum of human bodies and experiences. His mission is to foster a community where individuals feel empowered to embrace their authentic selves, share their stories, and recognise the bear beauty in vulnerability and feeling great pride in themselves. Luka is also a resident writer for Konnect with Data (an Australian Data company).