On Sunday, October 23rd New Mardi Gras (NMG) sat down with the community for a debate on fundraising plans at the Member & Community Forum.
NMG invited the community along to consider the direction of events such
as Sleaze, Hallowe’en, and Party as primary fundraising sources, in addition
to new opportunities with Parade, Fair Day and other activities that could
support Mardi Gras in the coming years.
Around 50 people heard NMG CEO Michael Rolik and Co-chairs Peter
Urmson and Steph Sands set out the recent fundraising history of the
organisation and their view of the challenges ahead.
“The truth is that when you factor all aspects of the party, the marketing spend
and the amount of staff time it takes to put it on, that it hasn’t really raised
significant funds for years and this year lost us a significant amount of
money,” said NMG CEO Michael Rolik.
“The question is not just Sleaze or no Sleaze. There are other options for us
and in some ways to remove Sleaze Ball from the calendar might make it
more plausible for the organization to pursue those other opportunities.”
Amongst the suggestions from the floor for Sleaze were to work with other
promoters to create a Sleaze festival, finding a new venue and looking at a
move to a different weekend.
Other ideas for fundraising included virtual mobile telecoms provision, running
a series of Fair Day-type events through the year, introducing more events
aimed at an older audience who no longer attend dance parties and setting up
an event on the June long weekend.
“There was an encouraging level of engagement with the difficult choices we
face,” said Peter Urmson, Co-chair of NMG. “The Parade is the absolute core
of what we are about and I think the community appreciates that we must do
whatever is necessary to ensure its future. There can be no sacred cows.”
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