The Auckland Pride Festival Board is on the hunt for a new Festival Director to join the team bringing you next year’s festival. With many people expressing their interest and a few people already throwing their hat in the ring, the Pride Festival Board says the search for someone new to fill the role is going well. The opening comes as the Pride Board has decided not to renew the contract of Ta’i Paitai, who was Festival Director for the past two years and the Board say they wish to express their thanks for his contributions to Pride. “Pride is keen to concentrate on devolving the Festival for 2017 and this is the reason why we are going to market to ensure we have the best person for this role,” says Chair Kirsten Sibbit. “The ideal candidate will have previous experience with the curation of a major festival and key relationships with our Rainbow Communities. The right candidate will be able to grow our festival and support those applicants that may require further assistance to produce an outstanding event. “The person will be able to co-ordinate different aspects of community funding and ensure that promotors have access. They will be able to install systems and processes to ensure that we have continuity of festival operations for future years and build our database of community promotors, fund raisers, community groups and those that attend our events.” Alongside this role, Pride is currently searching for new board members and members of the LGBTI community to help in sub-committees that will work together to advise the Board on the best outcomes and actions for Pride 2017 The committees are: Events – The focus for this sub-committee will be spread between the festival events, working with communities to produce outstanding events during the festival, and the Parade events team working directly with the Parade Producer to ensure the Parade reflects the true spirit of community Pride. Marketing Finance – This team will be challenged with the role of ensuring that Pride has adequate resources to deliver the events and Parade – including sponsorship acquisition, budgeting, forecasting and analysis of Pride presented event budgets. Strategy – This team will be focused on the longevity of Pride and ensuring that there are long term strategic objectives that are achievable and will be able to focus on looking at reform within the Constitution. People Culture – This sub-committee will have the responsibility of ensuring that there are the correct people resources within Pride – including the recruitment of volunteers, paid contractors and Board members, also with the ability to encourage membership of the organisation. With this they will develop the systems and policies to ensure that everyone on Board is well looked after and represented. The Festival Directors role is challenging and the Board encourages all who are up for this challenge to apply before 29 July 2016 to chair@aucklandpridefestival.org.nz - 22nd July 2016