Former Auckland Pride board member Lexi Matheson who just last week resigned, has told express that she is unsure whether or not major Auckland Pride events will even go ahead.
When asked about the 2015 programme, Matheson says that she is “not sure” some of the major events would even happen. “The last few weeks of my time on the board was spent either on strategic plan meetings for the future, which was board focused rather than festival focus and the rest of it was crisis management.”
“As far as I know there has been no appointment made for somebody to put the opening gala together.” The opening gala is the first event on the calendar and is just over two months away. She says she is unaware of any planning for the end of festival Proud party as well, particularly in light of party planner Julian Cook’s departure as festival director.
“I don’t know how any of that is going to be put together. I’m an event manager and if I was sitting in the chair responsible for putting that together, I would be quaking a little bit.”
Matheson has said that she resigned from the board because they had “grown apart, like a marriage really.”
“I just feel at odds with the way the board is going. I just feel like it is becoming too corporate.”
Matheson also says she feels that the board is no longer transparent and accountable in relation to the way appointments are made and the way the community is communicated to. “If you lose track in how you talk to your community and stakeholders, than there are serious issues.”
She expresses concerns around lack 0f transparency in board appointments as well. “The suggestion I made, which was that we restructure and go back to square one. That we deconstruct the three positions, end the contracts and start again.” That idea was rejected by the board, which in large part resulted in Matheson’s resignation.
Article | Levi Joule
