Announces first-ever Pride Parade and intent to hire new Executive & Festival Director
Click here to download our new strategic plan.
Beginning in the Fall of 2021, Flagstaff Pride (Northern Arizona Pride Association), engaged Phoenix Philanthropy Group to conduct community outreach and to create the framework of a plan forward for NAPA’s next 25 years. Phoenix Philanthropy has deep experience advancing LGBTQIA2S+ organizations and causes.
Today, we are announcing the outcomes of our collective work and important steps forward. With new mission and purpose, Together We March Again.
As we began this process in Fall 2021, we knew some things to be true.
- The progress and freedoms secured over the past decades are not universally enjoyed, especially by transgender, non-binary, and people of color.
- Serving a primarily rural region with limited access to healthcare resources is a barrier to all, but especially our LGBTQIA2S+ community.
- More needs to and can be done to improve the visibility, acceptance, and celebration of our community.
Now, in the wake of Supreme Court decisions earlier this summer and an ongoing onslaught especially to transgender rights, our announcement is even more important. We can’t let more time pass. As we emerge from COVID’s grip, the small group of volunteer board members that served as the caretakers of Pride in the Pines the past few years is ready to inclusively build an organization that is so much more than an annual festival.
Together We March Again. Advocates, educators, business and community leaders, volunteers, board and committee members, and patrons, LGBTQIA2S+ community members and their allies – we must band together to make greater-Flagstaff and Northern Arizona not just a shining example of inclusive community but a force to be reckoned with as disaffected leaders and judges in far off places make decisions that negatively impact our freedoms, health, and prosperity.
Together We March Again. This year’s Pride in the Pines Festival was one of the most inclusive ever, representing a large cross section of the lived experiences we seek to celebrate. Many of our entertainers were local or from Arizona and represented nearly every color of our rainbow. We also had resources and vendors from across the state supporting our sexual health, gender identities, and youth. Thank you to the hundreds that made our return to an in-person event a celebration.
Now, the call to action.
Together We March Again.
Our Call to Action:
- Literally, we must march. During Pride Month and beyond. Flagstaff is and must be fabulous. We are so excited to announce that in 2023, Pride Weekend will be kicked off by Flagstaff’s first ever Pride Parade. We will march through the civic heart of Flagstaff to the festival grounds. Our civic spaces must be safe spaces. We call upon the broader business, nonprofit, religious, and government community to join us.
- We are stronger together.
- We need leaders from all walks of life to join our committees and board. And, we are hiring a Executive Director and Festival Director. To learn more, click here.
- We seek to build a coalition that is grass roots and to be at the table where important decisions are made. If you represent an organization that serves or impacts the LGBTQIA2S+ community, let’s start a conversation, let’s work together.
- We need sustainable financial support.
- We must build community. Many that attend Pride in the Pines are from beyond Northern Arizona. There support and kinship are critical, but, Flagstaff Pride’s purpose is to serve our region, especially Flagstaff, year round. To thrive in Flagstaff our community not only needs resources but connection. Through our collective work, we will expand safe places and sense of community. Our work is more than a festival.
After more than 25 years of serving Flagstaff and Northern Arizona, we are reenergized for the next 25 years.
To download our strategic plan, click here.
To get involved, click here.
Please join us.
In Pride,
The Northern Arizona Pride Association Board of Directors