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My name is Max Tweedy, and I have just been appointed the new director of Pride. Um, for the Auckland Pride Festival Incorporated. Um, and I've, uh, grew up in Wellington and moved to Auckland about a year and a half ago. Um, have been highly involved in kind of community work in rainbow communities and so really excited to take this role on what does the role involve? So the role is essentially, it takes, um, all of the responsibility of the operation aspects of the Auckland Pride Festival, Um, from the board, uh, and [00:00:30] kind of puts it all into one role. So, um, that's, you know, around funding around media around, um, planning the festival, and and, um, stakeholders and sponsorships and all of the kind of, um, all of that stuff that makes that festival so good. Um uh comes into my role. So it's all that operational aspect. So, what drew you to this role? Um, I loved the Auckland Pride Festival this year. The 2019 Pride Festival. I, um the the more kind of grassroots, [00:01:00] uh, nature that it took, um, the form that that took really, um, resonated with me and my, um, the way that I see pride. Um, and so to me, it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to kind of, uh, continue to support Auckland pride in the in the amazing work that they do, uh, and kind of bring my own skills and and and values and and way that I see pride to ensure that we create an amazing Auckland Pride festival in 2020 beyond. That, [00:01:30] um, really recognises and reflects the diversity of our rainbow communities and and looks to kind of, um, empower them, um, and and also and celebrate where we've come from and and showcase some artists and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah. So then what does mean to you? I mean, I guess pride for me, um, has its fundamental roots. Um, going all the way back to stonewall. Um, you know, in in 1969 and and looking at the kind of the liberation movement, um, and [00:02:00] the kind of the fight that it was against the status quo. Um, pride to me is political. Um, it it kind of it it represents, and it challenges that heter noms nom, um, status quo that has, um, structurally disadvantaged us throughout our history. Um, so pride is about celebrating our community. It's about celebrating our uniqueness of what makes us queer. Um, and why that's so important. Um, and actually, what we have to offer [00:02:30] to to the world to society, um, and our different perspectives. So for me, pride is it's a celebration, um, of who we are. Um, Now, it's also a celebration of how far we've come. But I believe it should also be a platform of of where we get to go. And I think that's still especially relevant. Um, in a so 2019, uh, the Auckland community seem to have, uh, fractured around the kind of Pride festival and Pride parade in particular. How are you going to, uh, bring those communities [00:03:00] back together? Yeah, and that's a that's a difficult one. And and, um, a question that I think not only myself, but the the Pride board and our kind of community as a whole have is kind of reckoning with at the moment. But for me, I think we have to return to our really core values and our shared, um, experiences of what it is to be queer, um, and understanding, um, and really going back to those fundamental roots of Of why is why what makes us queer. Why is that so important? Um, and and what do those [00:03:30] values of what we all believe pride should be actually look like and kind of have those discussions from a values based perspective. I think we got caught up, um, in a lot of the details, um, where potentially people needed to take a step back and look at it and look at actually a bigger picture. Um, on both sides of the argument. Um, so I I'm really looking forward to having some really, um, really in depth discussions with the community and and hearing their ideas. About what? That [00:04:00] you know what that festival looks like from that values perspective. So So this is more than the parade itself. This is the festival wide. You? Yeah, absolutely. Um the I mean, the Auckland Pride Festival has always been more than just the parade. Um, the the parade has been a fantastic showcase historically. Um, but also, we've had some amazing queer artists activists, um, all sorts of people who have been able to put events on, um, during the festival and kind of share the the wonderfulness of their queerness. So, um, [00:04:30] certainly the discussions about about the essence of what it is to be queer and in the community, and And what does the festival represents that I think takes place across the whole, um, festival and not just the, um, not just the parade. So So what are your initial thoughts in terms of bringing communities back together or or building those bridges again? Yeah, I think it's the community who that have been had. Um, you know, and the pride board have already started having those conversations again. The Pride board held [00:05:00] a couple of, um who, um, earlier in the year, um, to to to go. What does that actually 2020 look like? So I think it's, um I think it's very easy for those discussions to be held, um, online and not such a healthy and constructive way. Um, so I'm really interested in in in bringing people together in spaces and having a well facilitated, um, area where we can really flesh these ideas out and and understand from that values perspective. What does pride mean to people? And therefore, what does that actually look like? So I think it's about [00:05:30] I think it's about conversations. I think it's about looking at it from a values based perspective, Um, and making sure that everyone feels heard and valued. Um, in that discussion, do you think the Auckland Pride board should have done anything differently this year? Uh, from how they how they acted reacted. I think looking back on it is not essentially helpful. Um, and I don't think, um, like, what? What's done is done. And what we have to do is we have to ensure, um, that the festival represents our our community. [00:06:00] Um, and I would I would say that it did this year. Um, and I'm and I'm definitely looking forward to delivering one that does it this year. So So? So what do you think the biggest challenges are for the 2020 festival? I think I mean, I think we've probably touched on them already. I think the the challenges about that, um, as a more, um, full community buy in getting that back. Um, that's a challenge. And I think also obviously with the um, set up of a of an organisation that says that they're going to deliver a pride [00:06:30] parade as well. Um, rainbow pride, Auckland, um, that, you know, ensuring that, uh, working with them and and a relationship with them is constructive and serves actually in the best interests of our community. So I think those are the kind of two key challenges that certainly look for and that spread that goes, you know, that's a role also, not just for myself as director, but also for, um, that elected, you know, board that sits above me as well. It's a kind of mixed governments, governance and and operational type, uh, to deal. But we certainly work together to ensure the best outcomes for our community. So [00:07:00] some of the issues that, uh, cropped up this year were things like, um, corporate sponsorship, corporate participation and also things like police and corrections wearing uniforms. Do you have any thoughts on those? I think obviously I think there's a role for, um, corporations. Um, because they you know, and I but I think there's a it doesn't necessarily play out the way that necessarily we've seen it play out. I really like the examples of organisations such as Spark really backing outlined, Um, and obviously seeing a synergy [00:07:30] in their work, uh, and, you know, outline, um, being able to, you know, spark providing outline with a whole bunch of resources and actually really supporting them in the work they do, Um, and, you know, with with a SB the way that they sponsor Rainbow Youth and and are behind rainbow youth on a whole bunch of their activities. That, to me, is a much better synergy for Corporates to actually invest in our community. Um, so I guess that that would be where my thinking is, I. I would I would kind of, um, hope for a more meaningful engagement, [00:08:00] Um from from businesses in that space. Um, but I mean, you know, and on the on the police coming into this, it's no secret I've been, um I was a supporter of the board's decision to, um to ask police to to just march in T shirts. Um, but you know that that conversation going forward is is one that we're having going to have constructively with, um, the New Zealand Police. And ultimately it's a decision for the um, the Pride Board about their involvement going forward. And this year So [00:08:30] the the the the kind of, um, Auckland parade, as we kind of knew it over the previous years didn't happen. But a march did happen, and you marched in that. How was that? It was fantastic. Um, I loved it. It was it felt really centred in community. It felt centred in like in more of those queer roots that I was talking about, You know, there were There were people that were celebrating how far we come. There were people, especially from our trans non-binary intersex communities that were looking [00:09:00] at how far we get to go and and using this march through Auckland's busiest street as a platform to be able to show people that we have work to do. And that to me, um, is, you know, quite core to what pride is. Um, there were roughly I think the estimate was 3.5 1000 people, um, that did that march from Albert Park to Myers Park, and and the feeling the vibe was was it was so it was so beautifully queer. It was so full of pride and celebration and happiness. And it was, [00:09:30] um it was truly fantastic. Certainly a different feeling. Um, it's a different feeling. I'm not saying that, you know, like in a pride parade. You know, I was in the Auckland Pride parade. I've been the Wellington one and also over in Sydney at Mardi Gras and being in their parade, the feelings are all different. Um, and and the vibes all different. But I certainly love the community grassroots queer feeling of of the march. So, um, and I think a lot of the community did, too. So looking forward to the Pride Festival in 2020 what will a successful festival look like? [00:10:00] What? What for? You successful festival for me. I don't want to kind of quantify it at the moment. Obviously, I'm not in the role yet, so I haven't looked at how, you know, like, actually those numbers in terms of maybe festival registrations or audience numbers. Um, but what I am keen on is delivering a festival that celebrates how far we've come and celebrates those pioneers that have brought us to where we've come that showcases the diversity and the brilliance of our queer communities. Um and and and whatever form [00:10:30] that takes art performance, drag all those sorts of things from a really community perspective and empowering those that maybe haven't been able to participate in the festival before to be able to do that, um, but also provide a platform where we're able to look at and kind of fight for the rights that we're still yet to gain. Um, you know, and these things are as simple as banning conversion therapy or, um, you know, the birth certificate legislation so that trans people can self identify or protections for intersex [00:11:00] people. Human rights act like there's a bread. There's so many, um, areas in which we've got work to do and and so I think that that pride is a is a fantastic platform for us to to look at where we have to go. Um, and I certainly am keen to to ensure, um, that that that is a platform that we empower those people within the communities that may have felt a bit shut out of pride before, um, to to have their voices heard.
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