At its meeting on 22 September 2020 Council decided to

1. undertake an Expression of Interest from LGBTIQ or LGBTIQ friendly organisations to manage a Pride Centre to operate out of Newtown Town Hall.

2. Convene a representative panel consisting of suitable individuals from the community to provide input and feedback into the Expression of Interest criteria and Pride Centre model to ensure it meets the community’s needs to provide input and feedback into the EOI criteria, the Pride Centre model and its future directions including on the further development of its:

• governance structure, mission and values statements, constitution and strategic plan, space use policy that balances the needs of the LGBTIQ+, Newtown and Inner West communities, community engagement strategies and other strategic and operational policies as required ... reporting to Council as needed;

3. Recognises the long-term presence and custodianship of Newtown Neighbourhood Centre (NNC) at the Newtown Town Hall since 1981 and the significant contribution the NNC has made to the Inner West community through its work at 1 Bedford St; and further recognises NNC’s preference to work with Council to maintain some form of presence at Bedford St; for example through its annual “Newtopian Sleepout” event;

4. Re-states its commitment to continuing close consultation with the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on the planned relocation to the Tom Foster Community Centre to ensure the relocation best serves the changing needs of NCC and the community at large, and commits to working collaboratively with the NNC in the project planning and design for the re-fit of the Tom Foster Centre on the basis of agreed project timeframes;

5. Includes two members of the Inner West Council LGBTIQ Working Group in the representative panel;

6. Refers to examples of similar advisory panels in Pride and community centres internationally in the development of the membership criteria and Terms of Reference for the Inner West Pride Centre representative panel, including the 519 Centre in Toronto as a co-hosted Council and community centre;

7. Seeks guidance on the criteria for selection of representative panel members from the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA); and

8. Require that EOI respondents address in their submissions the expectation that community access to spaces in line with current practice will continue.

For more information read the Council report and view the meeting minutes.

For up to date information on this project visit Pride Centre project.