Julian Cook(February 2013)

In the podcast titled "Julian Cook - Auckland Pride Festival 2013," recorded in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, Julian Cook, the Pride Festival Coordinator, discusses the comprehensive scope of the Auckland Pride Festival 2013 with interviewer Gareth Watkins. This festival marked a significant resurgence of major pride events in New Zealand, with the last full-scale hero event having taken place in 2001.

Cook explains the festival's extensive program, which includes around 60 diverse events, not including ongoing seasons and exhibitions. The assortment of events reflects the community's need and desire to express and explore its identity in 2013. Cook highlights the inclusiveness by featuring sporting to lifestyle events and sexual expression to outdoor film nights.

Despite the dark history that followed the last hero event of 2001, described as the "Dark Hero party," the community has shown readiness to engage in a renewed, brighter Pride Festival. Cook delves into the difficulties of community reaction, financial crises, and the need for time and energy to move forward after past challenges.

Cook's responsibilities included coordinating nearly the entire festival except for the parade, which was managed by Jonathan Smith. The coordination involved engaging with event organizers, hustling activities that were self-running into the program, and new entities that required nurturing and support.

Cook touched on the significance of engaging youth in the festival, acknowledging a generational gap that missed experiencing pride festivals. The goal was to imbue them with the necessary skills to participate and possibly manage future events.

Challenges included convincing established events to join the umbrella of the Pride Festival, which involved overcoming insular attitudes within smaller community niches. Cook posited that for a stronger, united community, there need to be collaborative efforts to bring disparate groups together.

Securing sponsorship for the festival proved to be arduous due to the tight economic situation, yet some companies did step up to support the community. Cook took pride in pulling together an impressive range of exhibitions, performances, debates, and dialogues that sought to foster community interactions, promote visibility, and stimulate cultural discussions.

One of the highlights discussed was the Pride Festival gala, which offered a taste of the various events that the festival would cover. Cook also discussed the festival's inclusivity by spreading events across Auckland, highlighting the community's presence in diverse areas of the city.

The podcast further explores the financial accessibility of the events, many of which were free or had a nominal entrance fee, and the multitude of artistic performance events that were part of the festival. From theatre productions like "Black Faggot" to visual arts exhibitions within close proximity for convenience, the festival was curated to be as engaging as possible for the community.

The discussion concluded with Cook's reflection on the importance of pride events, emphasizing their potential in building a cohesive and healthier community by providing a common platform that celebrates diversity and unity.

This summary is created using Generative AI. Although it is based on the recording's transcription, it may contain errors or omissions. Click here to learn more about how this summary was created.

Julian Cook

2010s, ahilapalapa rands, alex plumb, alex taylor, annea lockwood, aorewa mcleod, aotearoa new zealand, arts, ash spittal, auckland, auckland pride festival, beth hudson, big gay out (auckland), black faggot (play), buckwheat, burlesque, cathy head, colin mclean, deborah rundle, douglas lilburn, drag, event management, fran marno, gals (gay and lesbian singers, auckland), gobsmacked: showbiz and dating, hero (auckland), heroes out west (auckland), heroic gardens, herstory, history, homophobia, imogen taylor, jack body, jamie burgess, jodi pringle, john parker, jonathan smith, julian cook, kitsch in synch, layne waerea, lisa prager, maree sheehan, mika x, miriam saphira, music, new zealand aids foundation (nzaf), nikki aitken, performance, ponti, pride, pride parade (auckland), queerlesque, salon mika, sam johnson, samuel holloway, sarah murphy, sport, steven oates, sue marshall, suicide, tess tickle, the johnnys, the muse, theatre, tuafale tanoa'i, verity george, victor rodger, visibility, visual arts, youth

2000s, all blacks, army, artist, auckland art gallery, australia, bars, birthday, board, bottom, building, cabaret, camp, choice, christchurch, church, cinema, coming up, community, connections, council, crying, cycling, dance, dance party, desire, directing, diversity, dog, economy, energy, equality, events, exhibition, face, farewell, film, friends, fun, funding, future, gallery, gay, glamour, god, hell, heritage, hope, icons, individual, job, ladies, lesbian, lifestyle, love, mainstream, marketing, marriage, marriage equality, mayor, melbourne, nature, nelson, opportunity, other, pacific, parade, parties, people, politics, ponsonby, queen, queer, rainbow, reflection, sad, scene, self esteem, sexuality, silo, sissy, softball, space, spaces, sponsorship, st james theatre, strength, stuff, success, support, tennis, the other side, time, top, travel, truth, venues, volunteer, walking, water, wellington, wind, women, work, writing, youth