Credit: Xtra file photo
Planning for WorldPride 2014 is ramping up. This week, Pride Toronto (PT) is hosting a series of consultation sessions to get Toronto’s queer community excited about and involved in planning the international party.
The three sessions are planned for April 17, at the Courtyard Marriott on Yonge St; April 18, at Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto on Simpson Ave; and April 19, at Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre on Bloor St.
“The whole city of Toronto is hosting WorldPride in 2014, so we want everyone to tell us what they want to see,” says WorldPride committee chair Luka Amona.
“We want people to become ambassadors of WorldPride. We want to get people talking on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and get people involved in the committees as well.”
The meetings mark the official unveiling of the new WorldPride 2014 logo, designed at no cost by Tourism Toronto, he says.
Amona says the sessions will be used to update the community on the planning that has already been done, as well as to discuss Toronto’s involvement in WorldPride in London this summer.
“We will be providing an overview of the delegation heading to WorldPride London 2012,” he says. “We will have a presence in the street fair and we want to march with a Canadian contingent and be there for the opening and closing ceremonies.”
PT has not yet finalized details of the delegation that will head to London this summer, Amona says. “We’re still looking at the activities we will do there, and we’re still looking at funding.
“We will need a committee to be in London for the handover ceremony, handing WorldPride over from London to Toronto, as we officially become WorldPride city.”
The committee will include PT executive director Kevin Beaulieu, board co-chairs Amona and Francisco Alvarez, a delegate from Tourism Toronto, and a still-unnamed Canadian artist or celebrity, Amona says. “We are still talking to people and we are still inviting people as well.”
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