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New West Pride gets new board, directors
Tuesday, the group declared on Instagram that ‘New West Pride is alive’
Ria Renouf
October 06, 2022
People enjoy music and beverages at the Untoxicated stage during the New West Pride street festival/Ria Renouf
A plea from New West Pride Society (NWP) on Sept. 15 has since been answered—a new group of leaders announced Tuesday evening that the group had been saved. The urgent ask for applicants to the board were a requirement, as NWP was at risk of closing after no one had initially applied for any of the positions.
During the group’s Sept. 20 annual general meeting, a new board and new directors were voted in.
President: Katie Stobbart (she/they)
Vice-president: Kevin Li (he/she/they)
Secretary: Madeleine Gwynne (she/her)
Treasurer: Ross Ferguson (he/him)
Directors include Steven Best (he/him), Blair Odney (he/him), Jeremy Perry (he/they), and Don Ralph (he/him).
Belladonna von Shade giving it their all during a performance of 'Love is a Battlefield'
“An experienced team of leaders from your community have stepped forward to answer the call, and were elected at the annual general meeting…by membership vote,” reads an Instagram post from the society.
As for next steps, the group is planning to come up with long-term strategies to ensure it can be sustainable. The NWP describes it as a “period of pivoting,” adding it will need to take the time to work on its rapid growth. It’s also looking to establish long-term strategies and social programming in the community.
According to the initial statement, the group has grown significantly over the last decade, with the most recent Street Festival seeing 25,000 people in attendance. The group’s first Queer Family and Transgender Swim welcomed 80 people.
“While there is much pride for what the society has accomplished, the society experiences significant challenges around maintaining executive and board members due to burnout. The society operates without any paid staff and is run entirely by a volunteer board of 8-14 people,” the Sept. 15 statement read.
“We are needing people with time and capacity who can take on the challenge of reimagining what the New West Pride Society could look like while creating processes and systems to move the society from a volunteer board to having paid staff with board support.”
We’ve reached out to New West Pride for further comment.