What’s the latest from The Equality Project?
A letter from Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, CEO, The Equality Project.
We hope that you are managing the very real challenges we are facing right now. It’s certainly been a difficult year and, depending on which state you live in, you may not be out of the woods yet.
Let’s continue to reach out to people – friends, family, colleagues and neighbours – and especially those who might be struggling in some way, or on their own at this time.
If this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that we need each other more than ever, and we need opportunities and spaces to meet, gather and learn together.
The Equality Project team has been using this lockdown time to create these opportunities and spaces for 2021 and beyond, and I wanted to let you know what we’re planning.
BETTER TOGETHER 2021
The 4th Better Together LGBTIQ+ National Conference will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on June 17-19, 2021 during Pride Month. There will be a particular focus on providing a platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, aged 50+ Sage communities, LGBTIQ+ people under 30, LGBTIQ+ people with a disability and allies.
We are really proud that this year we are able to cover the cost of full registration for 150 sage members, all our Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander attendees, and 60 young people. We hope to have scholarships available for everyone who needs financial support to attend.
If you would like to propose a session for the conference, please see details here. Submissions are currently extended till January 31, 2021.
Super Early Bird pricing for the conference is now available here.
BETTER TOGETHER 2022
In January 2022, the Better Together National LGBTIQ+ Conference is heading to far north Queensland to Cairns and Port Douglas for the first time. We are teaming up with the “Hot and Steamy” Festival (Jan 13-22, 2022) and hoping to create a program of events that focus on health and well-being.
Canberra Together 2 is scheduled for late 2021 (details out soon) and we are planning a Global Better Together conference in 2023 in Adelaide to coincide with World Pride!
BETTER TOGETHER TRAINING ACADEMY
To date, over 1200 people have participated in our LGBTIQ+ training programs and we are excited to share details of our training initiatives in 2021.
In October, we’ll be delivering the GLAAD media training online for the first time. Ross Murray, Senior Director of Education and Training at GLAAD in New York, will deliver a virtual workshop called Building Media Strategy for Long-Term Change. You can find out more and book your ticket here.
Our national Advocacy Masterclass training tour will be taking place face to face in late March and April 2021. We’ll be running the training in Port Douglas, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. We are really excited to have three leading advocates sharing their wisdom and expertise: Benjamin Law, author and journalist, Paige Burton, Engagement Advisor from Equality Australia, and Lara Husselbee, Human Centred Designer. Follow this link to learn more.
Our Be The Change, five-day transformative leadership training program will be running in Canberra this November and in Melbourne 2021. Melbourne is full but Canberra has spaces available. You can find out more about this program here.
We have also been working hard to secure funding to ensure that all our events and programs are accessible to as many attendees as possible. We understand that this is a very difficult time for many people right now, but if you are in a position to donate money towards our scholarships, that would be much appreciated. We are a tax deductible charity. We are participating in Give OUT Day on 16 October. Donations up to $1000 will be matched dollar for dollar.
I am really looking forward to continuing our work into 2021 and to seeing you at one of our events.
In the meantime, please take care of yourselves and each other.
Warmly,
Jason Tuazon-McCheyne
