Parade’s new visionary

The 2011 Mardi Gras Parade will be overseen by an artistic director, the first time in almost 20 years.

Ignatius Jones, who parlayed a brief but successful stint as lead singer of early ‘80s ‘cabaret-punk’ outfit Jimmy and the Boys into a career as one of the most in-demand large scale event Artistic Directors in the world, is the man who has been charged with the task of revitalising the parade.

Having been away from Australia since his involvement in the 2002 Gay Games alongside former NMG Head of Events Katrina Marton, Jones returned to Sydney several months ago with plans to stay well into 2011.

“Katrina heard this,” he smiled, speaking to the Star Observer between meetings in New Mardi Gras’ Oxford St offices.

“She took me for drinks at the Colombian and asked me to do it. Katrina and I have long been involved with Mardi Gras, me since ‘79, her since shortly after that, and we had expressed worries about the way it was going.

“We both had concerns that if the parade didn’t lift its game artistically and organisationally, that it would be a little like watching an old friend die. We didn’t want that to happen.”

Jones said he understood the especially strong scrutiny that’s reserved for those putting together gay and lesbian events, even compared to his previous stints helming globally-televised events like the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics and Vancouver Winter Olympics.

“Totally — talk about walking into the cross hairs!” he laughed. “But this is my community and I really believe in this as an expression of what we have achieved and what we can achieve, so I’m willing to take that risk.”

And so what grand plans does Jones, clearly passionate about the Parade and its legacy, have for 2011? For starters, the annual ‘theme’ is out.

“One of the first questions I was asked was what this year’s theme should be. I said ‘Hello, the theme of Mardi Gras is Mardi Gras itself’.

“I think what’s appropriate for this year is realising that times have changed and moving Mardi Gras to a new place.

“Even the notion of a gay community has changed, because there is no ‘gay ghetto’ anymore. It’s percolated through the entire country. And that’s a victory, no doubt.”

It does make the task of unifying Sydney’s queers that much harder, though.

“Absolutely. And there’s no question Mardi Gras needs to connect with Generations X, Y, Z because many of those people have forgotten what it was like to be illegal. When you first marched in that march, you were saying that you were a regular committer of crimes.”

For an event like the Parade, whose entrants are (within reason) allowed creative free rein to put together their own floats and costumes, one might wonder what exactly an Artistic Director actually does. Jones described his role as in many ways “facilitative,” helping members of the community figure out what they want to say in the Parade, and how they’d like to say it.

“You need to be fabulous, but there are 40 different kinds of fabulous. It’s not all about lycra and spangles if that’s not you. Work out what’s fabulous about you, and get it out there. That’s what’s so great about our GLBTQ community.

“One of the great things about the workshops we’ve been holding, and why we really encourage people to come, is that people really come together and help make their ideas better. This past Saturday we had the Jewish gay group and the Muslim gay group sitting side by side, sharing advice. It was brilliant.”

Jones will also cast his eye across the whole Parade and help to draw out some of the more powerfully simple moments among the glitz and glamour.

“It’s about a combination of the spectacular and the simple. One of the moments of the Sydney Olympics people most remember is that lone horseman who rode out and cracked his whip, and my god, how simple is that?

“The drag queen Miss New Zealand used to walk in the parade by herself, just dressed in sensible party frock and a nice hat, holding a sign saying ‘New Zealand’. It used to bring the house down. I remember one guy by himself with a sign saying ‘I’ve got something to tell you, Mum.’

“I’ll be seeking out the fantastic, simple moments like that.”

And while Jones has a taxing few months’ work ahead of him, he said he’s arrived back in Australia energised by a new perspective on the Parade’s space on the world stage. “Being overseas and seeing Mardi Gras through foreigners’ eyes, I’ve realised we are unique. This is the most outrageous, fabulous, fun civil rights movement in the world.

“Somehow the political roots of Mardi Gras formed a bridge to the artistic elements of our community. Performance art became political.

“It’s a celebration and a protest march — both, not one or the other.”

info: For more on Mardi Gras 2011 dates and events visit www.mardigras.org.au