The Centre, recently rebranded Qmunity, held its annual general meeting Jun 18 in the West End.
Thirty-two voting members attended, an increase over last year, says Craig Maynard, co-chair of the board of directors.
The Centre sparked outrage in April after news surfaced that its board was considering moving Vancouver’s gay community centre out of the gay village. In the weeks since, some community members have called for a public consultation to discuss the creation of a new gay community centre and the shape such a hub should take.
Now, it seems, Qmunity’s hub will be online.
“You can have a building but the reality is, because Qmunity is BC’s leading resource for the queer community at large, the website encapsulates that so people can come to it from anywhere and get information and it is truly the face of Qmunity and the face of the brand,” board member Jennifer DeTracey told Xtra West after the meeting.
“It’s sort of the portal in which people enter to have the experience,” she explained. “And then, at that point, they’ll email the staff that they need to. They will get involved in showing up to activities, and they may decide to volunteer and become involved at a much broader scale than that.”
New board member Jeff McAndrews supports the new online focus.
“Jen DeTracey made a really good point that the hub for our community has become the internet,” McAndrews says.
Xtra West presents:
A New Vision For A New Centre.
Jul 9.
Check Xtra.ca for more details soon.
Join our online action campaign — Needed: New Vision for a New Centre.
Watch our video report from the Jun 18 meeting:
Video by Nathaniel Christopher.