With Calgary Pride only a month away, we caught up with President, Sam Casselman, while she was out of town on a special mission.
"This weekend we actually went to [Vancouver Pride] as Pride Calgary and marched in the parade. We had a big Pride Calgary banner, and stickers for everybody, trying to get some people from Vancouver to come out to Calgary and create awareness about Calgary’s Pride."
Visiting the larger Pride event was certainly an eye opener, and has gotten the wheels turning on ideas for the future.
"There’s lots of little things that they do there that we would like to have in Calgary, but we don’t have the numbers, so that’s kind of our main goal: to figure a way to increase the attendance, and all the rest will come."
In fact, Casselman says the Vancouver Pride Board has been very supportive of Calgary’s Pride Board as they strive toward growing and improving.
"They’re really good with helping us grow and do new things throughout the course of the year. If we have questions...they’ll send us information about how they work it there, and maybe we can adapt it to what we’re trying to do here, instead of simply trying to figure it out for ourselves. All the Prides around Canada kind of help each other, so it’s really good like that."
She reflected on how far Calgary’s Pride celebrations have come, even just in the time period that she has been involved.
"I think [Calgary] Pride in 2008 was at about 2,000, and in one year [to 2009] it went to 10,000 people and Pride last year, and we used to have parades that went for 15 minutes, and last year it went for 45 or 48 minutes. So just in the last few years we’ve seen it grow by leaps and bounds, and I think we’re going to have our biggest year ever."
She also reflected on the decision several years back to move Calgary Pride to September, instead of continuing to hold it in June.
"We did a lot of research before we decided to change the date to the September long weekend. There’s only a 1 in 10 chance that it will rain on that long weekend, whereas it was 6 in 10 for the June weekend [that we used to have]. Also, it doesn’t conflict with any other major festivals going on in Calgary, and it doesn’t conflict with any other major Pride happening in any cities near Calgary. We thought that moving it to the long weekend would encourage more visitors to come from out of town and help us celebrate Pride in Calgary."
This year marks another big change.
"The location’s changed from Olympic Plaza to Shaw Millennium Park, which is awesome. It’s a much bigger space, and it’s just going to logistically work out a lot better. So the Parade this year will start at Olympic Plaza and go in the reverse direction, and head west along 8th Avenue to Shaw Millennium Park, where the street festival will happen. That’s kind of a big thing!"
"Also, we’re having the Pride Dance on the Friday night instead of the Saturday night. As a Pride participant, I would go to the dance the night before, be out partying all night, and then always be late and miss the parade the next day because I was sleeping still."
Sam also mentions, as a Board member who has to stay and clean up after the dance until 5 in the morning, starting the parade day around 8 means basically a sleepless night for the organizers.
"So we thought having the dance the Friday night, having some other events on the Saturday, and then the Sunday we would have the parade and street festival, it might just break it up a little bit."
This year, the board is paying special attention to the Trans community in the theme of the celebrations.
"I’ve found in the past within the community, the trans community often get left out. Pride events usually are either gay or lesbian focused, and Pride Calgary does try to be very inclusive and welcoming: we want to be that kind of organization. So we thought that this year we would try to highlight the ‘T’ [in LGBTQ]."
She humbly announced that The Clicks, a big-name band on the Canadian LGBT scene, will be playing the Friday night.
"So the front man [of the Clicks]...he’s a trans man, so he’s pretty much into the trans community and movement, so that’s really cool. And we have a member of the trans community on our Board of Directors who is our liaison and outreach person within the trans community."
Sam also mentions the trans film screening on the Saturday in conjunction with Fairy Tales, and then a panel discussion including the Clicks frontman, Lucas, and other members of the community.
"Our Mission Vision and Values within Pride Calgary talks a lot about us being inclusive and diverse and all of those things, and so for me it was just about looking at all those different groups. Pride’s not just about a big huge party: there are other things going on here. And even people with disabilities within the community often find it hard to get out to events, so we’re trying to find venues that are accessible."
Looking toward the future, Sam has some ideas about how she wants to see Pride Calgary improve.
"I think what Pride Calgary needs the very most right now, and what we need the most in order to be able to grow a lot is a paid staff member. Everybody on the Pride Board is a volunteer, and most Pride organizations, including Edmonton, have paid staff. ...We get a lot of phone calls during the daytime from people who have questions about this and that, and because we don’t have an office person, those calls get returned a day or two later. It would be helpful to have someone there, everyday, to deal with that, and applying for funding and finding grants. So if there are any professional grant writers who want to call and volunteer their time, we could really use that! That would be awesome."