 Next year’s Mardi Gras is likely to receive support from Events NSW, a government initiative set up to support the sustainability and development of key events for the state.
Although Events NSW has not yet issued New Mardi Gras (NMG) with a formal response to its application for assistance and funding, NMG Chair David Imrie said he was confident of the organisation’s support.
“We’ve had positive verbal indications,” he told SX this week.
“They are likely to support us in some way. They’ve indicated they consider Mardi Gras to be a very, very important event on the calendar, especially the Parade, which is a good sign for us. They appear to be a big fan of the Parade. We are hopeful. They’ve been very supportive. They very recently came back to us to seek information around our submission and that shows they’re looking very carefully at what we’ve proposed.”
However Imrie admitted Events NSW would take a proactive role in deciding how any funding should be spent.
“I doubt very much they’re going to hand over a large grant and say, ‘Go shopping, enjoy’,” he said.
“They’ll want to be reasonably directive and at least consultative on how funds are allocated.”
A spokesperson from Events NSW told SX its official response would be due shortly.
“Events NSW considers Mardi Gras to be an iconic feature of both the Sydney and Australian events calendars and the envy of many other global cities. Events NSW is currently in discussions with New Mardi Gras and we envisage these will be finalised in the near future.”
In addition to funding from Events NSW, NMG is about to release its annual report which will show “a strong result”, Imrie added. He attributed this to the success of the 30th anniversary event this year as well as a long-term growth plan implemented by the board.
“The spread of events works well,” he noted. “All events were well attended. Particularly with the festival we were very quality conscious and came to learn that we’re better off to have a festival that contains a smaller series of really good events rather than a massive flow of events of varying quality.”
NMG will present details of the organisation’s activities at its AGM at 11am on Saturday, August 23, at Metropolitan Community Church, 96 Crystal Street, Petersham. All members are invited to attend.
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