Dear JOY Members, I write this note with a great deal of excitement. As many of you will have read over the last couple of days, Friday was a very significant day for our community and for JOY. Minister for Equality, Martin Foley, announced that a site on Fitzroy St in St Kilda will be the home of Australia’s first Pride Centre. The announcement comes after a thorough selection process involving proposals from several inner city councils. Jude Munro, Pride Centre Board Chair, advised that the City of Port Phillip submitted the best overall proposal, representing a deep commitment to supporting the LGBTI community. JOY was the first LGBTI community organisation to express interest in the Pride Centre when it was announced in early 2016. Over the last 12 months, your Board and CEO have been working with the Department of Equality, the Pride Centre Board and other community organisations to review site and community requirements to help guide the selection process that has just been completed. In particular, I’d like to recognise the work of my predecessor, former JOY President Jed Gilbert, and current Vice President Tanya Matthewson, who have both played significant roles in keeping JOY engaged with Pride Centre developments over the last 12 months. JOY is Australia’s first and only LGBTI radio station and we are a voice for the entire community. We had no greater representation of this than JOY’s presence up in Sydney recently for Mardi Gras. An amazing group of staff and volunteers, representing broadcasting, tech, podcasting and social media, made this happen. I listened to JOY with great pride over Mardi Gras weekend, knowing just how powerful our presence can be for the LGBTI community. JOY has been lucky to have support from the City of Melbourne with our studios and office operating out of the City Village on Bourke St, since we relocated from South Melbourne. However, we have always been searching for a more permanent home. The proposed Pride Centre represents the opportunity for us to have a permanent home at the centre of a collaborative LGBTI community hub. I cannot imagine a Pride Centre without JOY’s presence, as we are best placed to provide the opportunity for our community’s stories to be heard, not just locally via our broadcast, but now globally through our increasing digital presence. Of course, there is still much work to be done. Now that we know the location for the Pride Centre, your Board and the JOY operations team can commence a thorough review of the site, business case and implementation plans to assess the implications for JOY’s future operations within the Pride Centre. There is unlikely to be any change for JOY for 18 - 24 months, and we will continue to operate from our current home while the Pride Centre development process continues to unfold. I look forward to keeping you updated with news on the Pride Centre in the coming months. Kind regards, Melinda Rich JOY President, on behalf of the JOY Board
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