A gay and lesbian festival has been identified as one of the holes in Auckland's events programme, by an Auckland Council report. The document from ATEED, which is the council controlled organisation for events and tourism, calls for more money and effort to go into attracting big events capable of boosting economic activity for Auckland. It points out that the nation's largest city only has four major economic events; Fashion Week, the Auckland Marathon, the International Boat Show and international men's and women's tennis tournaments, which it says do not generate sufficient returns to be considered an economic success. The two other major events in Auckland are the Pasifika and Lantern festivals, which are considered to be "social events" that do not have an economic benefit. The ATEED report says two notable holes in Auckland's events programme in comparison with other cities are a gay and lesbian festival and a music festival. As a result of the report Mayor Len Brown is seeking a further $3.9 million for this year's budget, which would be spent on a mixture of new and existing events. ATEED is the organisation which is currently investigating the feasibility of a Mardi Gras type parade in Auckland, at the prompting of a drive from National MP Nikki Kaye. A community meeting has been called by the Gay Auckland Business Association for initial consultation on the gay and lesbian festival. It will be held at on Monday 16 May starting at 5.30PM, at Kamo on K'Rd.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 7th May 2011 - 2:28pm