A more complete look at GayNZ.com’s interview with Auckland Pride Festival’s co-chairs in the wake of the resignation of Festival Director Julian Cook, in which they discuss his departure and the process which led to an Executive Officer being appointed. Read our shorter summation here A quick history The Pride Festival was first publicly suggested by National MP and Auckland Central representative Nikki Kaye in 2011, with immediate backing from Mayor Len Brown who called for a feasibility study. It led to community consultation meetings, facilitated by Gay Auckland Business Association’s Charitable Trust Chair Gresham Bradley, and a 10-person volunteer steering group was formed. In June 2012 Auckland Council’s events body ATEED stumped up with the cash to get the event off the ground and Auckland Pride Festival Incorporated was established to operate as a not-for-profit incorporated society, recruiting a Board of seven community members. In July the first Pride Board was announced, co-chaired by Gresham Bradley and Timothy McMichael, with inaugural board members Megan Cunningham-Adams, Richard James, Lexie Matheson, Gurv Singh and Julie Swift. A hunt began for a Parade Coordinator and Festival Coordinator, and in September it was announced Jonathan Smith and Julian Cook had been selected in the respective roles. There was also a reshuffle on the board, with McMichael bowing out, Cunningham-Adams becoming co-chair and Linda Heavey joining the board’s ranks. Megan Cunningham-Adams with inaugural co-chair Gresham Bradley at the opening of the first Auckland Pride Parade The first Auckland Pride Festival happened in February 2013 and was regarded as a success and a good start, with an array of events and memorable parade and closing Proud party. There board signalled it was quickly getting on with planning for 2014, with a few more reshuffles, with Gresham Bradley and Richard James bowing out and David Coltman and Andy Jalfon joining – with Coltman ultimately becoming co-chair. Jonathan Smith did not come back as Parade Coordinator for 2014, unhappy with changes in the reporting structure, and Richard Taki took on this job in year two, with the new title Parade Director, a role he retains for the 2015 festival. Community members Gresham Bradley, Ashley Barratt, Simon Randall, Richard James, Gurv Singh, along with lawyers and others became a group of consultant members, who make up the 15 people needed for an incorporated society, and also provide another layer of governance and visibility. It was also designed to give the community assurance that the board was being monitored. The current board, heading into the 2015 event, is made up of Megan Cunningham-Adams and Daniel Mussett as co-chairs, Julie Swift as secretary, Lexie Matheson as Treasurer, and Phylesha Brown-Acton and Paul Patton as members. Earlier this year Linda Heavey stepped down from the board and was made Executive Officer. Julian Cook was Festival Director from the inaugural Auckland Pride until his recent resignation. The sudden resignation of Cook, and the process through which Heavey was appointed, led to a number of questions for the board, which GayNZ.com sat down with its co-chairs to discuss yesterday. While we went over most of the key points in a story posted last night, this is a fuller report from our interview with Megan Cunningham-Adams and Daniel Mussett. Why was an Executive Officer role needed? Megan Cunningham-Adams says the need for an Executive Officer type role was discussed in the first year of Pride, when there were three coordinators – one for the festival, one for the parade and one for sponsorship. Each had a person on the board to report to, but things were falling between the cracks, especially around sponsorship, with the three key people all having different contacts in this area. She says they mooted an Executive Officer who could bring one line of reporting through to the board, so nothing fell through the cracks any more. “It was a hot topic of conversation right from day one,” she says. “It was always part of our discussions and our understandings as to how the organisation would move forward, was that we needed somebody to bridge the gap between the volunteer board and the directors, or coordinators as they were back then, who might only be employed for five or six months of the year.” The role was also designed to be tactical and not so operational when it came to day-to-day organisation of the parade and the festival. “The final reason for it was that we realised, particularly in that first year – and don’t know what we would have achieved if we didn’t have Jonathan and Julian on board – but those guys were awesome.” Cunningham-Adams says. “What we did recognise though, and it made us chew our nails at board meetings, was how heavily dependent we were on those guys, and what we would do if something happened to either of them, honestly left us in as much of a sweat as not having enough money to pay the bills.” Funds were allocated in the second year, but had to be withdrawn as the additional sponsorship needed wasn’t available. Cunningham-Adams says that year Julian Cook took on the EO and sponsorship roles, in addition to his Festival Director role, with a sponsorship commission as compensation for the extra work “to ensure he was adequately recompensed for the phenomenal work he was doing.” She says it wasn’t ideal and became rapidly apparent that Cook had enough to do as Festival Director without the added work. Crowds line Ponsonby Rd for the Pride Parade. Picture: Auckland Council. How was the EO appointed? The Executive Officer position was put back into the budget for the third year. In May this year, then board member Linda Heavey created a proposal for the role. She has a background running gay community events, including the "Out of the Red" Hero Project fundraiser. She has a background in strategic event planning, marketing and promotion, and fundraising. Her proposal was circulated and approved, and some of the funding for it came from the Lotteries Commission. She then put herself forward from the role – and would obviously step down from the board if successful. “We were under some time constraints again and this is why we entered into a non-competitive process,” Cunningham-Adams says. “So I am happy to admit, or not happy to admit, that we did enter into a non-competitive process with Linda, and awarded her the contract via our usual board approval methods. That’s proved to be a really big mistake. And we’ve been held accountable for it on a number of occasions – in spectacular fashion at our AGM where out consultant members gave us, quite rightfully, quite a hard time about it. And we acknowledged that. I acknowledged that as the only co-chair left over from last year. So I will take the responsibility for that.” Cunningham-Adams says she hadn’t thought about the possibility it would become viewed as ‘jobs for board members’ situation, something which was raised at the AGM, and she has apologised for. “I acknowledged that I’d led the board in doing something that was not as transparent as the community might like. I apologised for it and I gave my personal word that it would never happen again.” While the board is not required to advertise roles, legally or under its constitution, it will do so with the Executive Officer position next year – and any other roles which come up in the future. Cunningham-Adams and her co-chair Daniel Mussett say they understand the community holds them to a high standard. “It was my naiveté, I guess,” Cunningham-Adams says. “I didn’t actually think anyone would be interested, it’s a really shitty job and it doesn’t pay very well. Having said that, it will be advertised next year.” Both co-chairs are full of praise for the work Linda Heavey is doing in the role – and clarify that she is working far more than the ten hours a week GayNZ.com was led to believe. The ten hours a week are only in the Pride off-season, for six months of the year, while leading up to the event it’s a busy and demanding role which takes more than the contracted 20 to 30 hours a week. The $30,000 for the role is partly from a Lotteries Commission grant, with the rest from the overall operating surplus. “None of this is Linda’s fault,” Cunningham-Adams says. “All she did is make a suggestion. I really want to be quite clear, if anybody wants to point a finger in the community at somebody to blame, that person’s me not Linda.” Julian Cook’s departure After being the Festival Director for Auckland Pride in its first and second years, and putting in legwork for 2015, Julian Cook resigned last week. He wouldn’t say why, but simply stated, “I love and support the festival and if I thought there was any other alternative to me then I wouldn’t have done it.” Cook has pledged his support for whoever the new Festival Director is. He finishes up in the role at the end of the month. Cunningham-Adams and Mussett are both clear he’s done a fantastic job for Pride, and categorically deny any suggestion his departure came down to a situation where it was a choice between keeping either him or their Executive Officer. “We are honoured to have had him as the founding Festival Director,” Cunningham-Adams says. “What he did in that first year was just phenomenal,” she says, adding it’s something that he has only built on since, “so we are disappointed to have lost him”. They are not willing to comment on the circumstances of his resignation, which they say are confidential, but Cunningham-Adams says they worked hard with him for five or six days “to see if there was anything we could do to make it work for all parties concerned”. Mussett adds “we did everything we possibly could to keep Julian. There were several conversations with him, with several different people. There was a group mediation session and formal mediation was offered as well. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Ultimately it was his decision, and ultimately he decided to move on. “What we can add to that, is because he has done such a bloody good job, the Pride Festival 2015 is actually shaping up really, really well. It’s shaping up really superbly. Under the circumstances, we’re really happy with the progress which has been made.” The search for a new Festival Director, which began last week, continues. “We haven’t actually got what you’d call a short list at this stage, but there are a few people that we have in mind who can do the job,” Mussett says. There is a plan b to run the event with extra hours from those already on board. “Our focus is to do our very best. Not just the board, but the society as a whole, to make the transition to the new Festival Director as smooth and as painless and seamless as we possibly can,” he says. When asked whether Cook’s departure will have any impact on the Festival itself, Cunningham-Adams says they are all going to have to work a bit harder. “Some of us are going to have to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in a little further, but we’ll know that we’ve succeeded when the community doesn’t know any difference at the end of the Festival. And that will be due to Julian’s scheduling, programming, the relationships that he’s built with people he’s invited to come back from previous years.” Communication As for the lack of communication in the past week, with GayNZ.com in particular, Cunningham-Adams says she takes the blame. “I actually didn’t think it was a story. Julian handed his notice in, we’re very upset, we tried to retain him and he opted to leave,” explaining that’s why she made a Facebook comment that it was business as usual for Pride – because they were disappointed to lose Cook, but then set about getting on with the job. “We had a strategy session just a little while ago,” Mussett says. “It was made clear on multiple occasions by multiple people who were at that table, board members, society members, the facilitators, that our key objective is delivering a festival in 2015. And we are focused on that. We cannot, not focus on that. That is absolutely what we are here to deliver.” One of the board’s new members is a communications expert, Paul Patton. All members are volunteers and he has been busy with his own work of late, but he is about to begin work on helping the board improve its communications with everyone, from the community, to stakeholders and the media. The co-chairs have made it clear the lines of communication with GayNZ.com will now remain open and we are confident that will be the case. “We’re in nappies” Both chairs stress that Pride is young. “I’d really like the community to remember that we are a very immature organisation. Every year something’s been different. And in order for us to continue to improve our services, we are going to try new things, and sometimes we’re going to make the wrong calls,” Cunningham-Adams says. Mussett adds “mistakes are inevitable. We’re two and half years old ... we’re in nappies. Mistakes will be made and have been made. But the important thing is we learn from our mistakes. More than that, we can’t undertake to do.” He emphasises the board members are volunteers. “I think sometimes people forget that ... we’re volunteers, so please don’t judge us too harshly. It’s actually really quite hard when you’re a volunteer to be told that you suck, when actually you’re giving up a hell of a lot of your spare time. We really are doing the best we can, with very limited resources.” Auckland Pride Festival 2015 will run from Saturday 7 February until Sunday 1 March. Jacqui Stanford - 19th November 2014