The group that will organise the backbone of the Auckland Pride festival has been announced and will be introduced tonight.

Interim chair Gresham Bradley has been brought on as the group’s co-chair, alongside Timothy McMichael, the new general manager at OUTLine.

Alongside Gresham and Timothy are Megan Cunningham-Adams, Richard James, Lexie Matheson, Julie Swift and Gurv Singh.

“The Trustees bring a collective a mixture of skills, experience, connectedness and enthusiasm to the Auckland Pride Festival Trust and make the Trust one that is representative of the Rainbow Community on many levels,” says Gresham.

The Auckland Pride Festival Steering Committee would like to thank Vaughan Meneses and Lindsey Rea with the process of selection – the selection committee were unanimous in their selections of the new trust, which has been a complex process requiring considerable skill and judgement.

“We would also like to thank all those who put their names forward,” says Gresham Bradley. “With an extensive number of high quality applicants, the selection committee was faced with a difficult task. The calibre of the applicants and their commitment to their communities and to Auckland was impressive. This marks a very successful completion of the GABA-led Community Consultation process begun in May last year.”

“The support we’ve received from the GLBT community, the wider community, politically from major parties, and from the media has been heart-warming to say the least. We are a diverse community and we are looking forward to the festival and parade providing a platform to celebrate who we are,” said Gresham. “I’d particularly like to thank Auckland MPs Nicki Kaye, Jacinda Ardern, and Louisa Wall, and Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse for their ongoing support”.

Auckland Pride Festival Trust will operate as a governance body and Trustees’ key role will be managing the various aspects of mounting a new Festival including the contracting for the services of a festival coordinator, a parade coordinator and a sponsorship manager to deliver the 2013 event. The co-chair model has been adopted for the trust to allow the chairs to share administration and external communications responsibilities. Each trustee will be overseeing a specific portfolio over the duration and leading up to the Festival event, and these include event management, sponsorship, legal, financial,business management, community relations, and communications and marketing.

The Auckland Pride Festival Trust is delighted the event has received Major Events Sponsorship from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) and the backing of Mayor Len Brown to stage the 2013 event.

The Co-Chairs of the Trust Board, Gresham Bradley and Timothy McMichael said, “The Major Events Sponsorship we have been given by ATEED is the catalyst that is making possible the return of a Pride Festival to Auckland after a 10 year gap. ATEED support gives us a stable financial platform on which to build, attract more sponsorship to fund the full festival, and to give Auckland a world class event that will attract visitors from around NZ and overseas.”

The streets of Auckland will come alive for the Auckland Pride Festival and Parade in February 2013. The fortnight long festival launches with the highly successful Big Gay Out on Sunday February 10. The new Pride Street Parade is set for Saturday February 16 and a series of events will take place throughout the two weeks including Bear Week, many cultural, sporting and social events yet to be scheduled including a closing Celebration on Saturday 23 February.

The Auckland Pride Festival Board will be working with a number of key stakeholders, sponsors, Auckland Council and the GBLT Community to ensure this Festival runs successfully and becomes the must-attend event of 2013 calendar.

The Trustees will be introduced to the community at GABA’s monthly meeting tonight, being held at DNA Bar, 382 Karangahape Road, Newton, Auckland, from 6pm.