Auckland Pride is relieved that the region is returning to Alert Level One at midday today, marking a return of postponed Pride events this weekend and allowing our Festival to continue until April 17.
“We’re ecstatic that we can take over the ASB Tennis Arena on Saturday for one of Auckland’s largest vogue balls to date: the IMAN Ball” said Director of Pride Max Tweedie. “Then with the Splash Pool Party on Sunday, we’re excited to see our communities come together again to celebrate Pride. We know that lockdowns are harder on our rainbow communities and arts sector, so this announcement comes as a massive relief.”
After a two week pause of Pride, this weekend marks the return of six previously postponed festival events:
Postponed Pride events will continue throughout March and April, culminating in the season of Over My Dead Body: UNINVITED at Q Theatre, and the launch of the NZ On Air funded Proud Voices on Screen at the Ellen Melville Centre on the 17th of April.
“While it was gutting these events had to be postponed, we’re thrilled that our event organisers are able to go ahead as we continue to spread Pride across the year.” says Tweedie. “Pride is all year round, our advocacy for our communities, coming together for queer events, and celebrating who we are doesn’t just happen in February – and this extended programme reflects that.
There are only six events previously postponed that don’t have new dates. While further updates to events will no longer be provided in this format, the Auckland Pride Website will continue to be the best source of up-to-date information on the status of events.
New dates for postponed events since previous update:
We’d like to take this opportunity in our final Festival COVID-19 Update to thank our incredibly resilient communities as we’ve navigated these alert level changes. Moving Alert Levels during Pride was our worst-case scenario, but you stuck with us as we worked through the implications, and trusted us with your safety. We’re grateful for your continued support.
We also want to thank the Government, Health Officials, everyone that works across healthline, contact tracing teams, ESR, and our community testers that made this swift response possible. Our commitment to an elimination strategy, and continued faith in our health response has made this Pride Festival possible in the first place.
It will continue to take all of us to make Pride, and other upcoming Festivals, unstoppable. Keep scanning QR codes, turn bluetooth tracing on, washing hands, and staying home if sick. Following this advice, especially around scanning QR codes and bluetooth tracing, enables fast and effective contact tracing that has enabled our swift return to level one, and could prevent us moving levels in future.
The 2021 Auckland Pride Festival is made possible through the support of our Major Partners: Spark & Rocketwerkz, and our Government Partners: NZ Major Events, Auckland Unlimited, and Auckland Council.
The 2021 Auckland Pride Festival’s dates were 3-28 February, but will continue into March & April.
For further enquiries contact: Max Tweedie, Director of Pride [email protected] 027 868 0774
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