Denver PrideFest weekend may be over, but The Center never stops working for the Mile High LGBT community. Here’s what Associate Director of Development and Communications Amy Drayer had to say about Pride, Denver's rank as an LGBT-friendly city, and what else we have to look forward to.
How long have you lived in Denver?Five years. Before that I lived in Washington DC, went to school in L.A., and I’m originally from Seattle. I understand you are a “PrideFest Guru” – what’s your role during this event?I’m the event director for PrideFest, so I manage the entire event … and also manage [its] long-term strategic growth. How long before each PrideFest does the planning begin?We typically begin having ideas for next year’s event while we’re planning the current year. Wrap-up lasts until August, and planning for the following year begins in earnest in September and October. Any particular challenges faced in the planning of this year’s event?Securing headlining talent that’s a wide draw for such a vast constituency is always a hurdle we have to jump early on. As one of the last free major Pride events in the country, we don’t have a huge budget to bring in the kind of talent people request or even sometimes expect. People will often ask why we can’t have the same kind of talent as L.A., Long Beach, New York. And the answer is that we’re still free – we don’t charge admission, so we don’t have $50,000 or $100,000 to drop on big names. Even so, I think we’ve been able to put on some really great main stage shows over the past few years. How did this year compare to years past in attendance?We’re leveling off on our exponential growth over the past few years. We estimate our attendance was pretty similar to last year: about 300,000 for the weekend. In general, how would you say Denver’s LGBT scene compares to other large cities?Compared to some of the cities I’ve lived in, I believe we have a pretty close and cohesive community that works well together to have a big impact on Denver’s political and cultural scene. We are also lucky enough to host the largest women’s party in the U.S. (First Friday), and to have an organized and active LGBT sporting community (Team Colorado), which will be hosting the 2015 OutGames. Overall our LGBT culture is pretty diverse and vibrant – I think it’s one of the best in the U.S. What do you believe are currently the biggest challenges faced by gay Denverites?With the “Rights 5,” (ENDA, public accommodation, second parent adoption, hate crimes statutes and designated beneficiaries) the LGBT community in Colorado is in many ways more protected than folks in other states. Culturally, I think the LGBT community, in Denver and in general, will need to continue to look for ways to find a cohesive meaning and purpose as we get closer to full equality. The Center is a strong source of support to the LGBT community … which are your most popular services? Obviously Denver PrideFest is our largest event of the year, and 100 percent of net proceeds from PrideFest benefit The Center. Aside from that we have Rainbow Alley, our youth drop-in program that gets about 700 visits a month from youth ages 12 - 21. One of our fastest growing programs is SAGE of the Rockies, which has … diverse social programming, in addition to offering advocacy and educational services in the senior community. We also offer a legal helpline through our Legal and Advocacy program. The Center itself is home to about 30 community and support groups, and through those we see about 2,000 visitors a month at our building. Many organizations have certain services underused due to lack of public awareness. Are there any like this at the Center that you think would be popular more if people were more aware of them? We’ve been consistently improving and expanding our services and programs for the Transgender community, and we just can’t find enough ways to talk about it. We’re in the middle of a three-year plan for our Transgender programs, which we’d like to make one of the strongest programs in the Rocky Mountain region -- not just through our work, but through strong alliances and partnerships with other service providers. Are there any upcoming events we should mark on our calendars?Absolutely! The Center is celebrating our 35th anniversary this year, and we’re hosting a black tie gala in September for the occasion. We’ll have the very best in live entertainment and a stunning audio visual program.