NMG begins dissection of split season
CHANGE OF DATE:
The extraordinary general meeting will now be held on Sunday, April 11, 2010 from 2pm at NIDA, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington.
New Mardi Gras has started deliberating on the positives and negatives of the split 2010 season as the community awaits a yay or a nay on a permanent split.
The yearly surveys are being finalised and the official debriefing has begun for NMG organisers and volunteers in the lead-up to an Extraordinary General Meeting on March 28.
CHANGE OF DATE:
The extraordinary general meeting will now be held on Sunday, April 11, 2010 from 2pm at NIDA, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington.
Questions about the success of the split are expected to be raised at the meeting as the NMG board decides whether to keep the parade and party on consecutive weeekends or return to the traditional format which gave people one massive night.
“As last year, we will conduct a wide-ranging survey on the season for members and our broader database, and invite the community to respond to the survey that will be accessible from our website,” NMG CEO Michael Rolik told Sydney Star Observer.
“This will include very clear questions on this year’s format and people’s preferences and ideas for next year.
“It’s important that we have a mechanism that people can have a say and that we are able to capture and record this, so we can review and draw conclusions based on that.”
The corporate sponsors, who bore the brunt of most contentiousness this year, will also be given a say on the matter.
“We will be consulting with key partners and stakeholders,” Rolik said.
“There is clearly a lot of work to be done. It’s too early to say whether we will be coming to the EGM with a specific proposal or to sound out a set of different options with our members, based on the results of internal and external feedback.”
A date has not been set for sending the feedback surveys to members.
info: Visit www.mardigras.org.au The EGM will be held at the NIDA Playhouse Theatre, 215 Anzac Pde, Kensington, on Sunday, March 28 from 2pm.
CHANGE OF DATE:
The extraordinary general meeting will now be held on Sunday, April 11, 2010 from 2pm at NIDA, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington.
This debate is helpful. Certainly I expect full financial figures for the mardi gras season and party profit/loss to be available in advance of the meeting, or else it is a pointless gathering; further, since the Biard admitted at the last AGM that they lied to members last year to cover up the initial stuff up with the dates/sponsorship, no internal ‘survey’ of members and the community will be acceptable. It will need to be independant of NMG.
Its imperative that before any decision is made financial figures are released to the members.
If the rumored loss figures are anything to go by one would have to question the credibility of individuals who stand up in front of the membership advocating permanent change without the presentation of the future plan and risk assessment to avoid a similar result.
There is no doubt that business’s benefited due to the extended season. But the fact is that most of those business’s don’t contribute one cent to Mardi Gras or any of the events that it runs.
Its time for hard decisions to be made or the hard work of previous years will be undone.
ps: surely NMG has already had to book venues/ notify govt agencies re dates in 2011? Or can that wait til after April?
Thankyou NMG for changing the date…you must have read your constitution. I’m assuming the correct notice will be given this time ie letter to members, paid ad in press, link from front page of website, all not less than 21 days prior to the meeting, notice up in office otherwise you might need to reschedule again. I also agree with Marcus that there will need to be some financial report about the season and projections available prior to that meeting. Plus a paper on the proposals re options for intellectual property as promised at the AGM available prior to the meeting.
Reading the press comments from NMG throughout and after mardi gras,it seems to me that the planets are lining up that NMG will be presenting a proposal that they plan to continue the split. So I ask NMG three things:
a) Michael Rollick please don’t do ‘a wide ranging survey’ ‘ as last year’..I would prefer a proper survey to be done, I think those at the AGM expressed how they felt about the (in)adequacy of last years survey and don’t ask a question such as “did I enjoy myself this year?” and interpret a response of ‘yes’ as meaning I support a split,just ask ‘do I support a split”
b) it is such a big decision a discusssion paper on the pros and cons available to the community prior to the meeting would be useful
and c) remember you can consult and seek opinions from sponsors, govt bodies etc, but Board members please remember at your core you are a membership driven community organisation
So NMG obviously responded to the rightful allegations of trying to hold the EGM with little publicity to the community except for an ad in SX News. Personally I’d like to know when this culture of secrecy, and lack of transparency will stop.
I expected more from Michael Rolik.
Two young friends of mine were on their way to the party around 11pm. They had failed to get a cab booking, so they decided to walk. On Anzac Parade they were harrassed by a car full of thugs. The car actually did a u-turn and the occupants got out, intending to ambush the two boys. Luckily my friends were able to jump down out of sight into the Moore Park Super centre car park, escape by another exit and cut across a golf course to get to the party.
My friends pointed out that when the party is held after the parade, everyone moves to it in a mass and there is less chance of homophobic violence. With the parade there are just more people around, particularly more gay friendly people. NMG should take this into account. The split plays into the hands of poofter-bashers.
To be able to have an informed discussion on this topic, we’re going to need to know the financial results for the Season. Hopefully, they will be made available prior to the EGM (even if they haven’t been audited). If NMG has made a loss or barely broke even on the Season, you’d have to think they would need to present a co-hesive at persuasive strategy at the EGM to make the split profitable moving forward, if that was the direction the Board wanted to take.