Fri 3 Jul 2015 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
We sat down with Auckland Pride Festival Executive Officer Linda Heavey and board member Paul Patton to discuss some of the claims and concerns about the event, and why it seems that they haven’t been engaging with the wider community. In part one, we looked at Pride’s governance In part two, they discuss resourcing, staff and volunteers, plus the contentious issue of corporate cash. Volunteers are crucial for the success of Pride STAFF, VOLUNTEERS AND RESOURCES After Pride winds up at the end of February there is a period when it's lightly resourced before work begins in earnest for the following year. In the past, board members have rolled up their sleeves to make sure things that need to be done, get done. “It has been one of our biggest operational resources, especially in year one,” Heavey says. “But that can’t continue, to survive, it’s just not doable.” They already have someone who takes care of their website and social media, and want to bring on a dedicated marketing and communications person - who will ideally be a volunteer, with a view to eventually becoming better resourced all year around. "And then we are going to be much more efficient at getting messages out, and getting them out on time, and being able to respond to things. We'll be more responsive," Heavey says, particularly over that period following the event in February and before the full team comes back on board in August. The ultimate plan is to be resourced year-round. Along with a dedicated marketing and communications person, Pride is hoping to bring on a volunteer manager – someone who would also ideally be a volunteer themselves, as keeping costs down is crucial. Heavey says volunteers are key for the organisation. “We can’t do what we’re doing without the support and generosity of people in our community. Bottom line. The event is so expensive that we could not do what we’re doing without things given in kind, people’s generosity of time, spirit and resources. “The current structure has that valuable resource currently sitting under each event. So the parade has parade volunteers, the festival has festival volunteers. They tend to be quite often aligned to the person in the role, because they go out and create that. And we’re very thankful they’re able to do that. The problem is one person goes, there’s the danger that the volunteers go with them.” Heavey says when former Festival Director Julian Cook, in particular, left they were left with little volunteer capacity for the Festival. “The problem with that is this resource is all lined up for this short window of time and for a specific purpose. And yet we have all these other needs across the organisation.” She says a volunteer manager would help manage the resources across the organisation. “We need that resource working in other areas as well. Like community consultation, like marketing and comms.” Filling as many positions as they can on volunteer basis should free up what stretched cashflow they have. “They are not likely to be full-time roles anyway... but there is still work to be done in that area.” At the moment they can only afford to pay the Festival Director and Parade Director for the festival planning and running period, which has been stretched out to begin in August. Immediate past co-chair Megan Cunningham-Adams told GayNZ.com Daily News in November last year that Auckland Pride would re-advertise the Executive Officer position this year, after the uncontested and unpublicised appointment of Heavey became an especially contentious part of criticisms leveled against the organisation. However, there has been no re-advertising of the position. Heavey says she wasn’t hired for just one festival, she remains the Executive Officer and is happy to keep the role for as long as the board wishes her to. GayNZ.com Daily News has today sought clarification from the board on why the intention to advertise the position was not carried out but at time of publishing this article an answer was not yet available. [UPDATE 8PM: The Board has provided the following response: The Auckland Pride Board is overwhelmingly pleased with the work the current executive officer Linda Heavey has achieved over the past couple of years. She has been instrumental in ensuring the on-going delivery and execution of Pride. We acknowledge her passion, dedication and the professionalism that she has shown. Whilst the Board is currently focusing on long-term strategies to ensure the sustainability of Pride it will also be taking time to review its HR processes. No decision has yet been made with regards to the renewal of the executive officer contract. - The Auckland Pride Board. ] “The reason [the chief executive role] was brought about was so that there was someone working strategically long-term across the organisation," says Heavey. "I did get side-tracked of course, at the last festival, only because I had to fill gaps.” Heavey says Pride is just about to call for expressions of interested for both the Parade and Festival organisers for next year’s event. She says while neither have first right of refusal, it is their practice to speak with the incumbent first, especially if they've done a good job that's the obvious thing to do. “But we are looking at asking for expressions of interest from people who are interested in running some of our other key events. We're looking at chucking those out to the community... if we've got some talented, skilled people who want to put their hands up to come and talk to us... for the Gala, the party.” Previously Julian Cook, along with being Festival Director, organised the closing party. “We were lucky with Julian, he was multi-skilled and multi-talented and that is highly unusual. So the problem with that is it is hard to find another person who has all those skill-sets,” Heavey says. Pride would love to have an office space, and somewhere the community can visit, but that’s a cost which they say is just not feasible right now. CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT “Money is the big, big factor in all of this,” Board member Paul Patton says. He’s been involved with Pride festivals overseas, and says they all start off similarly, and their structure grows as they progress over the years. “Ultimately it comes down to the corporate dollar, dare we say. It comes down to companies seeing Pride as something they want to participate in. As the event continues to grow it becomes a more and more attractive proposition.” Patton says they are not going to get any more public funding than the $100,000 per Festival they receive from Auckland Council’s events funder ATEED. “We have to, obviously, look for sponsorship cash.” It’s been a hotly-debated issue, particularly this year when protesters threw paint at ANZ’s GAYTM’s to object to, among other things, corporate involvement in Pride. Asked whether there would be an Auckland Pride without corporate involvement, Heavey says “there is one answer, and that is no." She says there might be some kind of march up a street, but probably not, because the mechanics of organising a parade are costly. The cash ATEED provides “almost” covers the costs of the Pride Parade. “It’s an incredibly expensive exercise. That’s a hundred thousand dollars.” Patton says ATEED also expects Auckland Pride to go and get sponsorship money. On the question of whether corporate dollars can compromise an event, Heavey reiterates they make the event possible. However, she says Pride has a clear kaupapa – it’s there to promote the wellbeing and mana of our community and the community as a whole. “It’s really easy to see if there is an alignment between a brand and our kaupapa.” Heavey says something almost missing from the conversation is the fact corporate involvement has been starting at the level of [their] lgbti staff – corporates are taking part in Pride to show support for them and to display their commitment to diversity. “That is why those organisations have participated. And it has been their HR departments that have driven that. They are here because of people. And if anything, their marketing and sponsorship people only pop up later on – and mostly it’s because we want to talk to them,” Heavey laughs. Patton adds: “Often it comes from employees working in these corporates who actually are telling their HR people that they actually want to go and participate. Often it comes from employees themselves.” Heavey says the groundswell of employees doing this is powerful stuff “and we need to open our arms to people who want to participate, for the same reasons that we exist”. Patton says for non-corporates, like the Defence Force and Police, it’s the same – the push came from within the ranks. “Surely that’s progression, isn’t it?” Heavey says there are clear criteria for taking part, available on the Pride website. She says anyone aligned with our community is an immediate yes, whereas companies have to demonstrate a message of support. “I think where that’s fallen short for the public to see is that, I would like to see their messages on a banner in the Parade. We could even put something on our website on their reason for being involved and what their motivation is and what their message is, so that’s obvious for people to see. And then I think they’ll understand why they’re actually there.” In part three, we’ll look back at this year’s event, including the No Pride in Prisons protest, then look ahead to next year. Jacqui Stanford and Jay Bennie - 3rd July 2015
Credit: Jacqui Stanford and Jay Bennie
First published: Friday, 3rd July 2015 - 9:39am