A conversation with Sue Anne Michaels, Community Stage Coordinator for PrideFest

Drew: The name Sue Anne Michaels sounds very familiar to me, I believe through ICRME, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Sue Anne Michaels: Yes, I’ve been involved with the Imperial Court since the 27th reign and have served on five lines of succession. I was elected to the board of directors several years ago and served as their chief financial officer for two years. I now serve on the board of parliament.

And how long have you been working with PrideFest?
This is my third year now.

How did you get started?
They called me about three years ago about two months out from PrideFest. The person who had taken it on couldn’t continue for personal reasons and they asked me to step in and take it over because I had done a lot of volunteer work for The Center over the years. I was more than happy to do it. We were a little bit rushed but it all came off really well thanks to the fact that we have a wonderfully talented community.

Speaking of which, what kinds of talents can we expect to see on the community stage at this year’s PrideFest?
Gosh, we have just a little bit of everything, any part of our community you can possibly think about is represented. We really try to put a big variety on the community stage. We have square dancing and female impersonators and male impersonators and the Two-Spirit Society ... the list just goes on and on.














Where can we find the community stage?
We are right at 14th and Broadway where we’ve been for many years now. We usually start about a half hour after the keynote speaker and we usually go on until, gosh, I think last year we had like 40 some performers so our time commitment is pretty full.

Which are your favorite types of performances?
As far as a favorite? Oh, boy, that would be so unfair to pick one because they each bring something so unique to the community. Anybody who is willing to share so much of themselves; to me that’s just amazing.

How can people apply to appear on the community stage?
We are taking applications right now so go online and download the application. That is submitted to me and we try to do it on a first-come first-served basis and we do fill up so get those applications in as soon as possible. Last year I had to turn away about 10 people.

What would you like hopeful performers to know about the event ahead of time?
Oh, well, our community, God love them, they tend to put things off to the last minute. You know, there’s gay time and drag time and I’m really easy to work with and we work extremely hard to accommodate everybody we can but timing is very important.

What is your message for Denver’s GLBT community regarding PrideFest?
My message about PrideFest would be that we are one diverse community and love and feeling of goodwill for all aspects of our community is something we need to keep in our lives every day of the year whether we are gay, bi, lesbian or trans.