Wed 4 Jul 2012 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The Board's co-chairs Gresham Bradley (left) and Timothy McMichael (right) The new head of OUTLine Timothy McMichael and the Chair of the Gay Auckland Business Association’s charitable arm Gresham Bradley will share the leadership of the Auckland Pride Festival Board. Bradley has been an integral part of planning for the event, which will be held over two weeks next February, while McMichael has recently moved to Auckland to take up the role of General Manager of OUTLine. Joining the pair on the Board are company director and IT project manager Megan Cunningham-Adams, cafe and bar owner Richard James, event and arts management tutor and researcher Lexie Matheson, council planner Gurv Singh and event coordinator Julie Swift. “The Trustees bring a collective a mixture of skills, experience, connectedness and enthusiasm to the Auckland Pride Festival Trust and make the Trust one that is representative of the Rainbow Community on many levels,” Bradley says. He is thanking former OUTLine GM Vaughan Meneses and former local body politician Lindsey Rea with the process of selection, adding the selection committee was unanimous in its selections of the new Trust, which he says has been a complex process requiring considerable skill and judgement. “We would also like to thank all those who put their names forward,” Bradley adds. “With an extensive number of high quality applicants, the selection committee was faced with a difficult task. The calibre of the applicants and their commitment to their communities and to Auckland was impressive. This marks a very successful completion of the GABA-led Community Consultation process begun in May last year,” he says. “The support we’ve received from the GLBT community, the wider community, politically from major parties, and from the media has been heart-warming to say the least. We are a diverse community and we are looking forward to the festival and parade providing a platform to celebrate who we are,” Bradley says. “I’d particularly like to thank Auckland MPs Nikki Kaye, Jacinda Ardern, and Louisa Wall, and Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse for their ongoing support”. Auckland Pride Festival Trust will operate as a governance body and Trustees’ key role will be managing the various aspects of mounting a new Festival including the contracting for the services of a Festival Coordinator, a Parade Coordinator and a Sponsorship Manager to deliver the 2013 event. The co-chair model has been adopted for the trust to allow the chairs to share administration and external communications responsibilities. Each Trustee will be overseeing a specific portfolio over the duration and leading up to the Festival event, and these include event management, sponsorship, legal, financial, business management, community relations, and communications and marketing. The Auckland Pride Festival Trust is delighted the event has received Major Events Sponsorship from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and the backing of Mayor Len Brown to stage the 2013 event. Bradley and McMichael say the major events sponsorship from ATEED is the catalyst that is making the return of a Pride festival to Auckland after ten years possible. “ATEED support gives us a stable financial platform on which to build, attract more sponsorship to fund the full festival, and to give Auckland a world class event that will attract visitors from around NZ and overseas.” The event will begin with the Big Gay Out on Sunday 10 February, will include a street parade on Saturday 16 February and culminate in a closing celebration on Saturday 23 February. The Festival will include Bear Week and many cultural, sporting and social events yet to be scheduled.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 4th July 2012 - 11:02am