News - Intl

London Pride Celebrations get a new Organisational body

Category: Latest International Created on Thursday, 17 January 2013 05:18 Written by Robert Manser

London LGBT+ Community Pride, a Community Interest Company, is today celebrating a successful bid in the Greater London Authority’s tender process to manage the next five years of London’s Pride celebrations.

London LGBT+ Community Pride’s bid was ambitious and set out plans to build London Pride over the five year period. The vision is for London’s Pride to become a global destination and focal point for the widest possible community to come together for an annual Festival celebrating the contribution the LGBT+ community makes to London and UK life.

The Board of Directors will hold regular public meetings, the first to take place in February, where people will be able to ask questions and make suggestions, as well as find out more about how to get involved. Places at the meeting can be booked online.

The Directors have invited Lisa Power, former Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association and currently Policy Director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, to act in a personal capacity as the independent chair of a Community Advisory Board that will advise on inclusivity and scrutinise the work of the London LGBT+ Community Pride CIC on behalf of the community.

The 14 members of the Community Advisory Board will be drawn by lot from representatives of a wide range of LGBT organisations.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Michael Salter, said: “We’re delighted with the support we’ve already had for our bid from the community but the hard work starts now. We have 70 working days to raise the funding required, finalise plans and make our vision a reality. We’ve already begun working with community groups and sponsors and now we are looking for motivated individuals to get involved and join the small army of volunteers that are essential to making Pride a roaring success. So in 2013 make helping Pride one of your New Year Resolutions.

“We are a Community Interest Company, which means any surplus made can only be used to support the event in future years or donated to LGBT+ organisations. We hope this will appeal to businesses and individuals sponsoring Pride.”

Lisa Power, Chair of the Community Advisory Board said: “London LGBT+ Community Pride are to be congratulated on their commitment to community engagement and to the transparency of their operations. I look forward to working with colleagues drawn from LGBT organisations to help realise the ambitions that we all share for Pride in London.”

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘London’s Pride celebrations are one of the biggest and most high profile events in our city’s cultural calendar. They are enormously popular and underpin London’s status as one of the best cities in the world for LGBT people, who make an enormous contribution to the social and economic life of the capital. With a new partner, strongly rooted in the community, our ambition is to see a successful event that is sustainable in the longer term.’

JOIN THE LONDON PRIDE GROUP ON Guidetogay.com