Groups Vie to Take Over Capital Pride
The producer (and main financer) of Washington, D.C.'s Pride events is looking to step down gracefully and looking at several possible successors.
Whitman-Walker Clinic had announced last October that it would be seeking to hand off the responsibility of putting together and paying for the Capital Pride, the D.C. GLBT Pride parade and associated events, the Washington Blade reported in a Feb. 22 article.
Don Blanchon, the clinic's CEO, had said at that time that the clinic was looking to return to its "core mission" as a health care provider to the GLBT community and to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Chip Lewis, a spokesperson for the clinic, was quoted in the Blade article as saying, "We interviewed four applicants."
Continued Lewis, "We are still in the process of deliberation."
The Blade reported that the four applicants included Jansi LLC, the publisher of Metro Weekly, which is a Washington, D.C.-area GLBT magazine.
Metro Weekly has published Capital Pride's annual guide, the Pride Guide, for nearly a decade, said Sean Bugg, co-publisher for the magazine.
The Blade article said that, according to Bugg, the proposal submitted by Jansi LLC for taking over production of the event included establishing a new non-profit.
The Blade article quote Bugg as saying, "We've had a relationship with Capital Pride for quite some time, and we felt that our mission fits in."
In an article from last December, the Blade reported that a religiously affiliated non-profit, Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation, had expressed interest in stepping up as the producer of Capital Pride.
The December article noted that if the non-profit, run by Westminster Presbyterian Church, were to take over as Capital Pride's producer and chief underwriter, it would be the first time that a religious organization were known to take charge of a large American city's GLBT Pride celebration.
Westminster Presbyterian church has the distinction of having been a GLBT-friendly church since at least 1983, when it expressly began to welcome and minister to gays and lesbians. The church also started Food and Friends, which services people living with AIDS and other illnesses.
Another interested party, the Blade reported, is the D.C. GLBT Community Center, in partnership with the Capital Pride Alliance, which is comprised of several of the event's organizing committee members.
In the December article, the Washington Blade quoted a representative of the Alliance, Bernie Delia, who said, "We envision a permanent organization whose sole purpose would be to put on Pride."
Continued Delia, "We feel the community is at a point now where it can sustain an independent organization like this."
The Feb. 22 article said that, according to Lewis, the Clinic had asked for proposals in January from interested parties, and that respondents were interviewed on Feb. 12 and 13.
Lewis also said that it was expected that the Clinic's board of directors would come to a decision before the middle of March.
Lewis said the interviews took place Feb. 12 and 13 following the Clinic's release on Jan. 4 of an official request for proposals for taking over Capital Pride. He said the Clinic's board of directors is expected to make a decision on the changeover by March 14.
Last October, Whitman-Walker had said that it was willing to continue to finance the Pride events this year and next year. The Blade reported that all four potential successors to the role of producing Capital Pride had projected in their proposals that Whitman-Walker would indeed finance the 2008 event.
Capital Pride costs about $120,000 annually, a sum that is largely recouped through fees paid by parade participants and festival booths operated by vendors, community groups, and businesses, was well as through fund-raising efforts and underwriting from corporate sponsors.