NMG Board results on Monday

NMG Board results on Monday

New Mardi Gras board elections took a leaf out of Federal politics on Saturday when vote counting was unable to be completed before the closing time of the AGM.

Instead, results will be announced by the New Mardi Gras Ltd. company secretary on Monday.

Approximately 85 people turned up for the AGM to hear the outgoing board explain the company’s financial situation and what had lead to a loss of $575,627.

Outgoing Co-Chair Nick Parker told members the board had been faced with two options for the 2010 Mardi Gras season; an “investment focus” which would have meant greater expenditure but cheaper ticketing and a continuation of the standard people had come to expect from Mardi Gras; or a “short term” focus which would have saved money but resulted in a mediocre festival and higher ticket prices, and long term damaged the Mardi Gras brand.

Parker called Sleaze Ball, “the fundraiser that didn’t”, noting attendance had been trending down for years, and said the event needed to change if it was going to survive.

Harbour Party on the other hand had been a good earner and had the potential to become an internationally recognised event in its own right.

Funds expended on the Spencer Tunick event at the Sydney Opera House were said to be justified as New Mardi Gras had had the publicity value of the event independently calculated at $10 million dollars, with the event potentially having been heard about by nearly half a billion people around the world.

During questions, a number of members spoke of the stress that this year’s compact festival had put on volunteers, particularly those on the medical team.

Outgoing Co-Chair Steph Sands said that the a two week festival had been an exceptional outcome, and plans for 2011 were looking at adding an additional 4 days to spread events over.

Members voted on a number of motions and items of business at the AGM

A motion to introduce “rolling membership”, as opposed to having membership ending on the same day of the year for all members regardless of when they joined was passed, while a motion requiring GLTBI centric messages in parade entries was defeated after member Anthony Hillis spoke against its wording while supporting its general goals, fearing that many popular satirical and political parade entries would have fallen outside that terminology.

A business item asking that New Mardi Gras explore alternative corporate structures to protect the company’s tax exempt status and minimise creditor access to NMG intellectual property failed, with the board explaining that it was already in the process of looking at these.

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6 responses to “NMG Board results on Monday”

  1. Maybe you should check your inbox Steve, if you’re a NMG member then you would have received announcements about Spencer Tunick event by email. Members also had priority invitations by email to participate, so I don’t know how you can say – as a NMG member living in Sydney – you didn’t know it was a Mardi Gras event.

    Media coverage on the day was at saturation point. Do an internet search and you’ll see all the major TV networks and mainstream press covered it. Very few fail to mention Mardi Gras. Not to mention the gay media like this site and its publications. How could you not know?

  2. As a member of New Mardi Gras I was very disappointed with the justifications made by the current Board of Directors in relation to the decisions made during the last season. The Directors claimed that the money spent on the Spencer Tunick photo was worthwhile as they potentially received $10 million in publicity in return. Publicity for who? Spencer Tunick? I live in Sydney and yet even I was not aware that the event was being put on by Mardi Gras. Why would people on the other side of the world associate the photo with Mardi Gras? Spencer Tunick takes these sorts of photos all over the world. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with gay and lesbian issues or the gay and lesbian community. The Board claimed that the decision was made to spend a large amount of money on the festival to ensure it maintained a high standard, despite the fact that the organisation was likely to lose money. I would have respected this decision if the festival did indeed end up being of a high standard, but in my opinion this most definitely was not the case

  3. As vote counting resumes today for the NMG Board elections, regardless of the results and differences in opinion, I would like to thank the outgoing Board members.

    They have all given their time and energy to one of the worlds great GLBTQ organisations, and the world needs more people like them. I would encourage all to give up a little of their time in order to effect positive change for our community and fight for full equality.

    While not announced in the informal Proxy count at the AGM, I would like to acknowledge the support of over 150 members given to David Walker, Michael Douglas and myself who did not get their Proxy vote counted or even reported on, as their email alone was not considered a valid Proxy submission, but simply an electronic signature.

    If elected, I will work towards having a simpler approach to for future NMG elections.

  4. well I am glad that I missed out. Having such a good comment on proceedings you have filled me in. Nothing more was expected except a very scripted meeting. Thank you

  5. $575,627 is a great loss no matter what way NMG would like to glosss it over. I hope the announcement today reveals a new board elected and those people responsible for this are held accountable!

  6. Whitewash

    I would like to congratulate the past Board of NMG on the great progress that they have made in the last 12 months in areas of compliance, governance and community consultation and on AGM that was stage managed with the precision and discipline that the Libs and Labor party can only dream of!

    Almost 2 hours and over 100 PowerPoint slides took us through every detail of what the Board had been up to -there was even room for one slide about the disastrous financial result… In the total of 10 minutes allowed for questions from members we heard carefully rehearsed questions and practiced answers delivered as stylish set pieces.

    The professionalism of the event was wonderful, however, as with national politics, openness, consultation, vision and honesty were casualties of the process.

    Thank you to The Star for reporting the dirt of this election process, I hope you don’t get shut down by the NMG legal machine and spin doctors.