Pride Week co-chair Mark Singh
Photo: Courtesy of Pride Toronto
Toronto's 28th annual Pride Week—which begins tomorrow and runs until June 29—has several new features, including more stages for programming and a three-day contemporary art show called "Plot, Engage, Disperse." The 10-day event is put on by the not-for-profit organization Pride Toronto, and includes a street festival and the Pride Parade. The whole event draws more than a million participants. "It's not hard to promote Pride Week—it's ubiquitous," says Mark Singh, one of the co-chairs of this year's event. "Where it becomes challenging is that it's a very large festival with dozens and dozens of events. We spend a long time planning what we're going to do and how we're going to promote these events." Here's a look at his strategy.
What’s new this year?
We have a lot that’s new this year. Probably the most exciting thing for us is our kickoff event. It’s the largest kickoff event we’ve ever done, and it’s a Sandra Bernhard live comedy festival on June 22. We’re very excited about it, and the response has been incredible from the community. We’re also doing a number of other new arts-related events, and the festival has expanded into three parks that have become three new programming areas.
Another thing we’ve developed is a full program around our selected international grand marshal [this year's marshal is Gareth Henry from Jamaica], including a forum, panel discussion, an exhibit, and some video pieces. We think that’s really important, because here in Canada, we’ve reached a place where we’re comfortable, we have widespread acceptance, we have legal rights on par with few other places on the planet. We feel that it’s important to do what we can for other queer communities.What’s going on at the opening gala?
This year we’re very excited about where our gala is going—it’s the fourth annual [gala] and “A Journey to Mount Olympus” is the theme, so we’re creating an entertainment program around that theme, as well as food and decor. The demand and interest in it keeps growing, and the cornerstone of the event is our Pride Toronto awards. We have fantastic award winners this year, all very diverse and deserving people who have done so much for the community. We also have the premier attending, and the mayor will likely be there. It should be very exciting.
How will this year’s theme, "Unified," show up throughout the different Pride events?
The theme is selected based on the community’s interpretation of where our community is at in the larger scale of things and within the larger society, and it’s interesting if you look at the evolution of the theme over the years and what was going on in society the year that theme was selected. So this year, we really feel the "Unified" theme exemplifies where we’re at in the community, and its main purpose is for people in the parade and people involved with all the different official events that we recognize, to try to weave that theme into the work they do.
We’re hoping that through the parade, which is probably the most visible showcase of the theme, you’ll see lots of elements of the theme in there. But you’ll probably see them in the other events, too. And we can never totally guess what it’s going to look like—we leave it up to the creativity and the imagination of the people who are involved, and we’re always pleasantly surprised.
Can you talk about the parade going digital this year?
We’re doing a Web cast of the festival, and it’s so incredible, because it all goes back to the new direction that Pride is going in in terms of our international focus. If I lived in some country where there might be state-sanctioned violence against queer communities or [homosexuality was] just not accepted, but I had an Internet connection, I could go online and, because of Toronto’s diversity, probably see somebody who looks like me celebrating who they are. It’s a very powerful thing.
What sparked the decision to hold a closing-night party, Last Dance, for the first time?
At Pride, we’re always looking for new opportunities and strategic partnerships, and Circa was just an opportunity that we couldn’t give up. It’s the first time that Pride has gotten into the big parties in quite a few years, and we thought it would be a great thing to do to get everybody together and celebrate the festival. We’re very excited to have RuPaul performing on closing night.
What’s new this year?
We have a lot that’s new this year. Probably the most exciting thing for us is our kickoff event. It’s the largest kickoff event we’ve ever done, and it’s a Sandra Bernhard live comedy festival on June 22. We’re very excited about it, and the response has been incredible from the community. We’re also doing a number of other new arts-related events, and the festival has expanded into three parks that have become three new programming areas.
Another thing we’ve developed is a full program around our selected international grand marshal [this year's marshal is Gareth Henry from Jamaica], including a forum, panel discussion, an exhibit, and some video pieces. We think that’s really important, because here in Canada, we’ve reached a place where we’re comfortable, we have widespread acceptance, we have legal rights on par with few other places on the planet. We feel that it’s important to do what we can for other queer communities.What’s going on at the opening gala?
This year we’re very excited about where our gala is going—it’s the fourth annual [gala] and “A Journey to Mount Olympus” is the theme, so we’re creating an entertainment program around that theme, as well as food and decor. The demand and interest in it keeps growing, and the cornerstone of the event is our Pride Toronto awards. We have fantastic award winners this year, all very diverse and deserving people who have done so much for the community. We also have the premier attending, and the mayor will likely be there. It should be very exciting.
How will this year’s theme, "Unified," show up throughout the different Pride events?
The theme is selected based on the community’s interpretation of where our community is at in the larger scale of things and within the larger society, and it’s interesting if you look at the evolution of the theme over the years and what was going on in society the year that theme was selected. So this year, we really feel the "Unified" theme exemplifies where we’re at in the community, and its main purpose is for people in the parade and people involved with all the different official events that we recognize, to try to weave that theme into the work they do.
We’re hoping that through the parade, which is probably the most visible showcase of the theme, you’ll see lots of elements of the theme in there. But you’ll probably see them in the other events, too. And we can never totally guess what it’s going to look like—we leave it up to the creativity and the imagination of the people who are involved, and we’re always pleasantly surprised.
Can you talk about the parade going digital this year?
We’re doing a Web cast of the festival, and it’s so incredible, because it all goes back to the new direction that Pride is going in in terms of our international focus. If I lived in some country where there might be state-sanctioned violence against queer communities or [homosexuality was] just not accepted, but I had an Internet connection, I could go online and, because of Toronto’s diversity, probably see somebody who looks like me celebrating who they are. It’s a very powerful thing.
What sparked the decision to hold a closing-night party, Last Dance, for the first time?
At Pride, we’re always looking for new opportunities and strategic partnerships, and Circa was just an opportunity that we couldn’t give up. It’s the first time that Pride has gotten into the big parties in quite a few years, and we thought it would be a great thing to do to get everybody together and celebrate the festival. We’re very excited to have RuPaul performing on closing night.
