Mon 31 Oct 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Jonathan Smith working on the 2013 Ak Pride Parade In a 'Back to the Future' moment Auckland Pride has returned to its founding parade director to create next year's parade. Jonathan Smith created the first, 2013, parade from scratch but pulled out of doing it the following year after Pride advised him at the last minute of negotiations that a change its internal operating structures would see him no longer reporting directly to the Auckland Pride Festival board. In a statement released today Ak Pride says it is “delighted” to have Smith and Shaughan Woodcock, both of the Eventimento event production company, on board. “Jonathan has already experienced the delivery of a successful Parade back in 2013, so he knows the challenges of the role and what to expect.Both Jonathan and Shaughan have a huge amount of passion for this event and for our communities. Their strong vision for the event, combined with demonstrable event production skills, gives the Board a great deal of confidence and excitement for the Parade this coming year,” the board says. In turn Smith says in the issued statement “We are very excited and humbled to be once again involved in the production of the Auckland Pride Parade... This is a fantastic opportunity for the Rainbow communities to showcase our talents, culture and passion to the wider community. Shaughan and I are keen to make the Parade inclusive and edgy, celebrating the great progress that our communities have made, whilst supporting the progress that’s yet to come!” Applications to take part in the 2017 Auckland Pride Parade are now open with details on the Auckland Pride website.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 31st October 2016 - 8:04pm