PRIDE Endowment Fund Launched to support and profile the LGBTQIA+ community, forever.  

To coincide with PRIDE 2021 we launched this endowment fund, with founding gifts from Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner, and Kathmandu.

The aim is to continue to grow the fund, investing the capital and utalising the resulting interest (income) to support the Rainbow community.

Annual applications will be called for in January, for projects that meet one of the following criteria:

• Showcase our city as a place where the rainbow community are embraced and celebrated, and/or
• Support at risk members of the community

A distribution committee, made up of Foundation and PRIDE representatives, will be established and announced later this year.

Celebrating and Embracing our Diversity

Those of you that follow our social media will have already have seen #colourfulcashel, our temporary interactive walk that celebrates Ōtautahi Christchurch's Rainbow Community.  This was unveiled at the opening of the PRIDE festival on the 5th of March.  It will be removed at the end of March.

In 2019, The Christchurch Foundation, to help inform our donors decision making, undertook some research - Vital Signs.  Vital Signs is a tool used to understand the community's perceptions of the place where they live.  It looks at the social, cultural, health, environment and economic well-being of the area and it identified the key priorities according to residents.

In that research, reducing inequality, celebrating diversity, and making everyone feel welcome were identified as key priorities by the majority of Greater Christchurch residents.  We met with the local PRIDE Committee to see how we could support of their work.  They asked us to raise the profile of PRIDE within the city, and to grow their connectivity with the business community.  They also voiced a strong desire to have a rainbow crossing in the city. #colourfulcashel, was our response. 

#colourfulcashel spans the whole of city mall and includes a local twist on a Rainbow Pedestrian Crossing on the Cashel Colombo intersection.  The design included a Port Hills silhouette and reflects Otautahi's diverse and vibrant community coming together after the earthquakes.

The work was designed by Akira Le Fevre, a member of the local PRIDE committee, and adapted by the Christchurch City Council's designers.  The Christchurch Foundation funded the project through the generosity of the businesses and individuals. Thank you Kathmandu, Westpac, Fletcher Building, Christchurch City Council, Action Signs, ChristchurchNZ, Mondelez, Men at Work, ASB, Stefanie Rixecker & Amelia Davis.

In addition, we worked with the Crusader's and Bayleys to colour Orangetheory Stadium for their home game.  The players switched to rainbow laces for the games. One of our partners, Brannigans, hosted a business focused panel event which was added into the PRIDE calendar of events.  ChristchurchNZ placed rainbow flags around the CBD as a sign of support. The Christchurch Tram kindly carried our VIP's down city mall.  Phantom Billstickers let us take over their bollards and Storylight generously produced a stunning video showcasing the art work, which can now be viewed on our social media platforms.

We also ran a decorate your shop/office competition which was highly successful.  Kathmandu took out the top prize. Their flagship store was wrapped in rainbows and butterfly selfie spots as well as a rainbow tent in the window.

There is a wide selection of images can be found on our social media platforms.

Plans are now underway with the PRIDE Committee for 2022.