With less than a month to go, the Auckland Pride Festival team have released the full line-up of events on their website, with 68 events across a two-week period. Kicking off the festival is the annual Auckland Pride Gala, this year hosted by Georgina Beyer and Jaycee Tanuvasa. A showcase of the talent sprinkled across this years festival, the black-tie event kicks off Friday 10 February at 8pm. Other returning events include Legacy Project, Heroic Garden Festival, Same Same But Different Writers Festival and the Proud Party. Youth involvement and cultural diversity were areas of interest for the 2017 Auckland Pride Festival team, with Co-chair of the Board Kirsten Sibbit stating in November that they “wish to work with Takatāpui Māori, Pacific and Asian artists and communities to make the cultural diversity that makes Tāmaki Makaurau such a great place to live more visible within Auckland Pride. “We are especially keen to work with emerging artists and youth groups to encourage innovation, and to develop our local capacity to produce and promote events for younger LGBTIQ+ audiences,” she said. This year there are six youth focused events in the lineup including Rainbow Youth Open Day, Legacy Project, Rainbow Ribbon Making, an exhibition, Punch and Munch and a night at Rainbow’s End. Events that highlight talent from the Māori, Pasifika and Asian communities include, Femslick, Benjamin Law: Adventures in Queer Asia, Mana Ngangahu: Female Warrior, Femslick Vogue Ball, Tapa Haka: Poi Edition and Intuition/Mendes. With a large number of events in the lineup, other events to note include The Future of Women’s Leadership lecture, the Ride with Pride and the Pride Tennis Tournament. To check out all of the events, head to the Auckland Pride Festival website.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 20th January 2017 - 4:36pm