Auckland events created for World AIDS Day were a creative success but numbers attending were less than hoped-for, and a dance party specifically aimed at gay, bi and HIV-positive men attracted considerably fewer people than anticipated. The Puawai Festival Theatre Project events included a discussion panel, spoken word evening, comedy night and The Upside Down Cabaret, all aiming to reduce HIV-related stigma “with performance, education, laughter and song.” “The festival, in what it delivered, was really powerful, the energy and impact of the festival was really powerful, but the attendance wasn’t so great,” says Mark Fisher, General, Manager of Body Positive who was involved producing the festival, which is in its second year. But particularly notable by their absence from the Puawai Festival events were the people that are most affected by HIV in New Zealand, gay and bisexual men. Fisher says the difficulty in engaging gay and bi men for the festival events may relate to “the spoken word thing,” such as a panel discussion on HIV history “not being for everybody.” However, Fisher says although he had high hopes for the Love party even that event under-performed despite being about “celebrating being here and recognising all the people who have gone before, having great lighting and sound and an excellent DJ brought in from Australia. But we only had around 180 people, compared with 300 last year and practically no HIV-positive people attended.” Fisher feels the proximity of other dance parties may have had an adverse effect on the Love party but also believes there is a problem with gay, bi and even HIV-positive men becoming less community-connected.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 5th December 2016 - 9:07pm