The man behind this year’s Auckland Pride Festival, curator Ta’i Paitai, took a few minutes out of a very busy schedule to chat to us about diversity in the lineup and what not to miss when planning your Pride. Ta’i says that with this year’s festival, he hopes to to create an event that reflects the richness of the wider community. With a diverse programme this year, Pasifika communities are engaged more so than ever and community feedback has played a big part in seeking to increase the reach of the Auckland Pride Festival.“This is an ongoing process,” says Ta’i. “Our research indicated that there are areas outside of Auckland Central that are more than willing to engage with Auckland Pride Festival. Watch this space.” You may have noticed that this year the much loved gala event isn’t featured in the lineup, Ta’i says this year it just was simply not ‘put in’ the festival but “the haters are always gonna hate.” Letting the events choose the festival the very strong performance component was just a natural direction for the festival. “Rainbow artists are renowned performers on and off the stage, so it's terrific that Auckland Pride Festival can provide a platform to showcase all this talent.” With so much to choose from Ta’i says when it comes to choosing what’s hot; “They're all HOT PICKS! This festival is a HOT PICK!” Special mention however, does go to an absolutely honest and beautiful documentary as part of this year’s film screenings, “OUT in the Line Up is a film that talks to being queer in the professional surfing world. I was absolutely ecstatic learning that this would be in Auckland Pride Festival.” If you want to know what the curator himself has on his list of things not to miss, naturally he will try and be at as much as humanly possible, “but definitely, alterNATIVE Film Day, the Auckland Queer Film Festival (Out in the Line-Up and My Beautiful Laundrette) Same Same but Different Writer’s Festival, Legacy Project 3, No More Dancing in the Good Room, A Grand Opening – Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Premiere Series at the Auckland Town Hall, Night of the Queer, The Bears Drag Race, PUZZY, Fa’aafa, Certainly Very Merry and definitely The Staircase Reunion!”, he says. GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 29th January 2016
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 29th January 2016 - 2:29pm