about new mardi gras New Mardi Gras is a not-for-profit public company governed by a board of ten directors elected and appointed annually by the membership, in accordance with its Constitution. As a not-for-profit volunteer-based community organisation, any surplus funds are reinvested into upgrading our member services, facilities and community events. New Mardi Gras was incorporated on 9 October 2002. Following the voluntary administration of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Ltd in August 2002, four community-based organisations (the Pride Centre, the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, ACON and Queerscreen) created a new corporate entity called New Mardi Gras. It set its charter to: • Secure the key assets of the former organisation, especially the name and membership lists; • Deliver a 2004 Mardi Gras season focusing on the core events of a launch, fair day, an ‘umbrella’ festival, parade, and party; • Lead a consultation process on the future of Mardi Gras and hand over New Mardi Gras to an elected Board. The inaugural board’s charter has been achieved and the election of the first board of Directors of New Mardi Gras occured at the Annual General Meeting on 10 May 2003. vision statement Our purpose is to celebrate and enable visible and proud gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and queer people in their communities values We are committed to achieving equality for gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and queer people through: • Community • Inclusion • Accessibility • Consultation • Volunteer involvement • Innovation • Transparency • Partnerships • Responsibility • Fun • Celebration v.2 contents report from the co-chairs 2 report from the executive officer 3 highlights of 2003/04 7 marketing and communications 8 sleaze ball 2003 10 festival 2004 12 launch 2004 13 fairday 2004 14 parade 2004 15 party 2004 17 our sponsors 19 new mardi gras organisational chart 20 new mardi gras staff 21 volunteer staff 22 corporate governance 24 financial report 28 v.2 1 report from the co-chairs ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens may be have been writing of the French Revolution, but in many ways this simple statement can relate to our organisation’s journey over the past 18 months. There has been a revolution of sorts in our own organisation. A new organisation that sees more and more of the decision making regarding our key events given back to our volunteers and working groups. As the Board moves from being an operational executive, to a board of governance, the running of the organisation is resting more and more into the hands of our dedicated volunteers. A group of individuals who promote and evoke change and are truly the backbone of keeping this organisation alive. This is what we feel is the true essence of not only community building but of a community organisation. It’s been a hard year after rising from the ashes in 2003 and the Board and working groups have worked hard to establish and build a solid foundation from which we can continue to grow. But it was also a successful year through a festival overflowing with talent, an innovative Launch, Fairday and Parade, and a sold out Party. The 2004 season was always going to be harder to produce than 2003. Where we produced 2003 on the generosity of businesses and the community, we had to cover more costs this season. We also found sponsorship of our 2004 season difficult due to a decline in the overall sponsorship market for events, and although we have strived to build better business partnerships with our existing sponsors, new large corporations did not rise to support our organisation for the past season. So it was pleasing to note, with these two factors in mind, and following our most recent audit that we made a modest profit from our 2004 season. As we move forward we need to embrace the challenges of the last season and work hard to ensure that this will change heading into 2005. a n n a We would like to give our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the exiting Board l h l i a c who have worked tirelessly to establish the framework for this organisation and i e a r - m make these events happen. As we are sure they will join us in thanking our a n n p h o t o : hardworking staff, members and volunteers for helping to make not only the 2004 season a success, but also for helping to build a sustainable organisation that with prudent management will withstand the worst of times, as well as the best. It has been an honour leading this organisation over the past year. On behalf of the Board of Directors steph sands michael woodhouse co-chair co-chair 2v.2 report from the executive officer I am pleased to provide you with this report on the operations of New Mardi Gras for the 2003/04 year. The financials in this Annual Report cover the period from the company’s date of incorporation, 9 October 2002 to 31 March 2004. The five events of Sleaze Ball, Launch, Festival, Mardi Gras Party and Parade were all produced to a very tight budget. It was a challenge, but a very necessary one, to maintain very tight cost controls across all areas of the business. The next year’s activities will provide similar challenges. The cost of insuring our events greatly increased this year. This is despite each event having a detailed risk management plan and an enviable record of public safety. Products and public liability insurance premium for the 2004 season increased by 31.25% ($55,450) to a total of $233,050. The medical insurance premium increased by 55% to around $28,000. These large increases in insurance premiums and upfront payments placed a significant strain on our cash flow position in February. While our relationship with major suppliers to our events continues to be strong and has greatly helped with our production costs, overall event production costs are very high and our profit margins are low. It is evident that we will need to prioritise the diversification of the funding of our operations. Without the generous support of our corporate sponsors and local and state government, and media partners, we simply would not be able to stage Mardi Gras. In the 2004 season, we formed good relationships with our sponsors and we will be looking to build on this in the coming year. The NSW Premier’s Department continued to recognise the Mardi Gras Parade as a NSW Hallmark Event and granted New Mardi Gras a user-pays exemption for the provision of state services of RTA, police, ambulance and fire brigade. A Hallmark Event is deemed by the state government to be instrumental in defining and projecting the identity of particular cities or regions and in contributing to the economic, social and cultural growth and well being of the city or region in which it occurs. In 2004, we will be looking to raise the economic and cultural significance of the Parade with both local and state governments. staffing and volunteers New Mardi Gras employs two full-time staff; an executive officer and an administrative assistant. For the 2004 festival season, we employed a total of ten contract staff in events management and workshop production. An events management company, MSF Event Management Pty Ltd, was contracted to produce Sleaze Ball and the Mardi Gras Party. Supporting the operations are teams of committed volunteer staff who are members of the 12 working groups. Each working group is responsible for an area of the business. These areas include: production of Sleaze and Mardi Gras Party; Parade; Launch; Fair Day; Festival; Marketing and Communications; People and HR; IT; Medical; Youth; Finance; Audit; and Fundraising & Member Services. A new legal working group will be formed shortly. The volunteers bring a wealth of professional experience, ideas and energy to New Mardi Gras. In the coming year, it will be our goal to restructure our reporting lines and business structure so that we are better able to utilise the talents and skills of our volunteers and maximise their time volunteered. This will also help free the Board Directors from being very hands-on operationally to being more able to plan and review company strategy and governance. Our recruitment program this year resulted in over 1600 people registering. We introduced centralised coordination of volunteers and will continue to refine this process. We are currently developing a volunteer manual to include a comprehensive volunteer orientation program which will cover OH & S risk, role descriptions and working group aims and objectives. As we move into our second year, we will be focusing on ways to unite all the working groups so that we are all working towards the same organisational goals. Staging large scale events always brings with it a bevy of changes and last minute challenges but I was inspired to see our volunteer and contract staff teaming up and answering each challenge with exceptional spirit and goodwill throughout the season. v.2 3 office and workshop The fit out of the premises so far has been done with less than $20,000. Needless to say, facilities in the office and workshop are still basic with projects still underway. The building had been a furniture factory for many years and required a complete fit out of installation of data and phone cabling, lighting and electrics, painting, carpeting and building of meeting rooms. With such an open plan, controlling the temperature remains an issue in the old building.