Seattle Out and Proud (SOAP) will produce a Seattle Pride march and festival Sunday, June 24, with the march in downtown Seattle and the one-day festival at Seattle Center.
The announcement comes after news that SOAP owed the Seattle Center more than $100,000 put the annual Pride celebration in doubt.
"SOAP was able to negotiate a plan with Seattle Center that will take care of our past bill with them and move Seattle Pride into the future with the Center as a long-term home," said SOAP President Eric Albert-Gauthier.
As part of that plan, SOAP has brought in Independent Event Solutions (IES), a special event promoter/organizer to help produce the event at the Seattle Center. According to SOAP's board of directors, it will maintain full control of the festival programming and vision, but will have professionals to help execute the event. Besides the production company, SOAP is also using a professional sponsorship firm, Baccetti Consulting, that is expected to "dramatically increase the sponsorship income."
As was the case last year, the march route will follow Fourth Avenue to the Seattle Center.
"With the burden of the event production lifted from us, we will be able to devote more time and resources to making the parade more exciting, raising funds for the parade and the Pride celebration at the center, building community partnerships and thinking of new ways to celebrate Seattle's LGBT community over the whole month of June," said the board's Friday, March 2, press release.
"We apologize for the hard road we have had to go down with the whole community to get to this point," said SOAP Vice President Weston Sprigg in the press release. "We have made some mistakes, but have done so with the best intentions. We have worked hard, struggled, fought, cried and learned a lot in the process.
"We'd like to thank Seattle Center and the LGBT community for their 'tough love' and for helping us move into the future with a better plan. We expect to be held to a high standard and believe the community has every right to expect SOAP to represent you in the best possible light. As always with a struggle, we are coming out stronger, wiser and more capable of doing great things."
"I've already talked to Shannon Thomas (executive director of the Seattle Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center) and we will see how we can work together," said Albert-Gauthier.
He added that he hopes that SOAP can coordinate with Queer Fest, which is expected to be organized by the community center in Volunteer Park again this year.
He also said that there is a payment plan in place to pay Seattle Center for the costs incurred during Seattle Pride 2006. The plan for paying $100,026.33 accumulated debt from the 2006 festival includes an immediate payment of $50,000 and $25,000 over each of the next two years; SOAP must hire professional event planners and a sponsorship development firm. The Seattle Center will have oversight of the 2007 festival budget.
"We are pleased that we could come to an agreement with SOAP to pay their 2006 debt and ensure that there will be a Seattle Pride Festival this year at Seattle Center," said Seattle Center director Robert Nellams. "This is a win-win situation for the center and for the community."
The initial $50,000 payment will be made using funds provided by the production company, according to Albert-Gauthier.
The former president of SOAP, Dale Kershner, negotiated and signed the previous three-year contract between SOAP and Seattle Center. He resigned from the group last fall after the deficit became known.
"I have not heard from him at all," Albert-Gauthier said. He added that he has tried repeatedly to contact Kershner but the former president has not responded to Albert-Gauthier's phone calls or e-mails.
"Our theme this year is 'Come together,'" Yes, he admitted, he can almost hear the jokes, too. "It was not deliberate, but it's kind of funny," he said. "People will turn anything into something."
Acting on this year's theme, Albert-Gauthier said he hopes that the SOAP board and Capitol Hill businesses will be able to work together this year and get the support of the entire LGBT community. He said one of the things SOAP hopes to do again this year is provide shuttle buses between Capitol Hill and Seattle Center.
"We would like to publicize it a little better," Albert-Gauthier said. He hopes to produce maps and identify where the shuttles will stop. Also, they are looking at bars to see if they may want to help sponsor the shuttles, maybe by putting their logos on the bus.
For information on Seattle Out and Proud, Contact Eric Albert-Gauthier at ealbert-gauthier@ seattlepride.org, 910-6576, www. seattlepride.org.
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives on Capitol Hill and can be reached at editor@ capitolhilltimes.com.
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