LGBTQI+ celebration aimed at all ages
An event planner and rainbow community ally is taking another shot at launching a LGBTQI+ festival in Taranaki.
Sunita Torrance of Flash Mob entertainment has announced OUTfest Taranaki, a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities, will run from April 12 to 18.
‘‘I’m so excited to announce it. The kids are crying out for this,’’ Torrance said.
‘‘I want to normalise things. I want them [children] to meet other people, I want them to know that there’s going to be a safe space for them to be and do whatever they like, dress and act however they like, and that they can look forward to that.’’
But the self-funded isn’t only for youngsters.
The week-long event will feature a variety of free and ticketed festival festivities for all ages, including a family picnic day, a comedy show, a cocktail and dinner evening, a drag brunch and a youth event, with further announcements to come.
Torrance has previously been instrumental in bringing drag and burlesque shows to the region, and also goes by the name of CoCo Flash when she dresses in drag to deliver Rainbow Story Time, a children’s event designed to encourage inclusivity and acceptance through books and games.
She was recently named a Taranaki Kiwibank Local Hero Medallists of 2021 for her advocacy work in the LGBTQI+ communities.
In 2019, she and drag partner Daniel Lockett, whose stage name is Erika, announced the launch of festival Pride Taranaki, which was planned for 2020.
But it never transpired, with Torrance claiming once the pair registered Pride Taranaki as a charitable trust and established a
board, the board pushed their festival plans aside.
’’We’re no longer associated with Pride Taranaki. I’ve been waiting for them to launch the festival but it hasn’t happened and so I’m, like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to do it.’
’’It was my baby anyway.’’ Pride Taranaki chairperson Anneka Carlson said the trust currently had no plans to run a festival.
Torrance had left the trust on her own accord after the board advised they were moving too fast with festival plans, Carlson said.
The trust was still fresh at the time with no money in the bank, and its initial focus was to build their community, she said.
However, Carlson said Pride Taranaki was ‘‘stoked to hear’’ of Torrance’s festival plans, saying it was a positive for the LGBTQI+ communities.
New Plymouth-born artist Shannon Novak, whose works look at LGBTQI+ issues, said events like OUTfest Taranaki help grow visibility and acceptance for communities in New Zealand.
‘‘I was in the closet until I left Taranaki as I was told it was wrong to be gay. I felt like an extreme minority – one of a handful in Taranaki like me,’’ said Auckland-based Novak, who pitched the idea of the recently painted rainbow crossing outside the Centre City mall in New Plymouth.
‘‘In my world, LGBTQI+ people had no visibility or physical presence back then. Having an event like this would have helped me realise it’s OK to be me, that I’m not alone, and that I have support if I need it.’’