EuroPride 2021: Looking Back
How EuroPride Learned From Past Years' Events
Written by GrandfatherClock
At the conclusion of this year's EuroPride, the atmosphere felt different compared to that of the previous year. While there were several bright spots this year in both the organization and content of the festival, there were some questions raised over the level of activity sustained over EuroPride 2021. In the words of Istillian, "This year's seemed a little quieter, but I think that's because there was no drew boom ..." In contrast to the flood of people who arrived in the forums last year, people now have been coming out of lockdown and spending less time online attending events like EuroPride. That is no reason, however, to discount the work that went into making this event a resounding success, and how the collective experience of previous years was used to make this event as memorable as it was.
Much of EuroPride 2020 was put together by Olde Delaware, Monkey, and, as they have said themselves, "a brand-new staffer who didn't know what he was doing ... ." This brand-new staffer was Forilian, who acknowledges that last year's event "had a few hiccups[.]" In EuroPride 2021, however, the effort was shared by the whole ministry, with more eyes and ears to make sure everything was running smoothly. "This year had more experienced staffers running it and also the process started earlier," Forilian went on to say.
In response to questions about the level of engagement, Minister of Culture Rotasu has hinted that the Discord-oriented focus of the event this year was more difficult to pull off, alongside a decrease of activity resulting from the ending of lockdowns: "I think this year was a lot more VC oriented than last year," Rotasu explained, pointing out that "a successful event this year meant getting more people on VC which is a bit harder to do." The minister also admitted, "I think if I had more time I could’ve made some better choices but there was less turnout ... ." On a more positive note, Rotasu highlighted that the server and schedule were better organized than last year, echoing the sentiments of many attendees and organizers.
Istillian was First Minister at the time of EuroPride 2020, and found making a true comparison difficult. "I think the difficult thing with a comparison here first of all is that activity was, and forgive the pun, 'booming.' We had literally just had the drew boom, and initially I was struggling to get EuroPride working because of some organisational issues ... I would say it seemed more filled with life and activity." The unprecedented Drew Boom seemed to be a large factor in the activity of last year's event, which cannot be expected to happen every year. This year may have seemed less active and exciting, and as Forilian notes, "it's the third iteration by now." Nonetheless, the effort put in behind the scenes to make EuroPride 2021 possible should not go unnoticed.
Last year's event was certainly not without its faults: "There were slumps with the art channel and others though," Istillian remarks, even though he goes on to say, "We had some very personal reflections from people like Lethen and Mal, and even when I wrote my own speech I really felt for an event like this I had to move past the game and give something a bit more ... raw. It was hard, but we'd organised speeches and release dates for throughout it."
Apart from the organization, Istillian sees the actual activities from EuroPride 2021 as successes, too: "I enjoyed it this year though. The speeches particularly, and the radio show on intersectionality was amazing." It just goes to show that a booming event in terms of activity isn't everything. This year's event was well-organized by all accounts, and the content was as good as ever. Unfortunately, outside circumstances may have taken some potential players away from the event, but it will be an event that is remembered by many for years to come.
