Richard Taki has revealed he decided not to reapply to be Auckland Pride Parade director after receiving no feedback on his recommendations to the Board. Richard Taki (right) with his husband Shane Pride announced last month applications were open for the role of Parade producer, and Taki told GayNZ.com he would not apply. In a statement this afternoon, Taki says he continues to support Auckland Pride “and would have relished producing a third parade to be proud of.” He adds: “Due to not receiving specific feedback to my 29 recommendations for 2016 that I submitted in March of this year I and my team could not safely proceed in producing the next one. Taki says Aotearoa has a strong history of supporting the glbtiq community and he is very proud of the work his team produced for the 2014 and 2015 parades. “I believe homophobia and especially transphobia is still prevalent in not only New Zealand but the world so all Pride organisations deserve our support. I would happily look at future parades or glbt festivals in New Zealand.” Taki says he offered to make a joint statement with Pride, but it didn't wish to do so. He doesn’t wish to comment further. Melbourne-based, Taki is currently producing multiple new theatre works as part of Melbourne Fringe and has a documentary coming out about theatre and its response to last year’s International Aids Conference. Auckland Pride’s Board has thanked Taki for his contribution to the success of the Parade over the last couple of years, and says it looks forward to building on that “with an even bigger, bolder and more dynamic event”. It says an announcement about the appointment of the 2016 Parade Producer will be made by the end of the month.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 24th September 2015 - 1:34pm