Dwayne Crenshaw took the helm of San Diego Pride this past Monday as its new executive director, practically two months to the day before this year’s weekend celebration.
In the midst of settling into his job, Crenshaw answered questions for the San Diego LGBT Weekly about the organization’s past, its current state of affairs and what plans he has for its future.
San Diego LGBT Weekly: What attracted you to the Pride position?
Crenshaw: I have experienced in life the prejudices and racism as an African American male. Growing up, I learned through my church and my community how to address those issues. In my other identity, as a gay man, I didn’t find that same support, that same knowledge, that same experience to help deal with issues of pride, respect and equality.
I became interested in this job because Pride is a way to celebrate diversity of the entire LGBT community – older, younger, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, black, brown, Asian. It’s a real time to celebrate, but it’s also more than just an event and a festival. It’s a way to promote pride in the lives of the LGBT community members 365 days a year.
That’s what I am looking forward to. How are we going to continue to build that part of the mission of Pride, bring equality and respect on a year-round basis, and then use the Pride Parade and Festival as a signature event?
What is your goal for Pride?
My first priority for Pride is to ensure that we have a strong and successful event this year, and continue the upward trend in terms of sponsorships, in terms of attendance, in terms of the quality of events, which will parallel hopefully the uptick in the economy.
Pride has a history – that a lot of people don’t realize – as a philanthropic organization, and has given over a million dollars. So my first goal is to make sure this year’s Pride, Pride Around the World, generates dollars for philanthropic support to LGBT community organizations at levels that have not been in the past, and continue to grow that.
After that, we are a year-round organization. So we want to: 1) Make sure that we have the proper systems and operations, and be open and accountable to the LGBT community about what we are doing here on a day-to-day basis; and 2) Build on that civil rights, social justice agenda to promote our mission, which is to foster equality and respect for LGBT individuals globally and locally.
What do you bring to Pride that is uniquely you?
By way of background, I have run a non-profit in San Diego, Coalition of Neighborhood Councils, five years before this. We had tremendous growth, from $50,000 a year … and grew that to $1.5 million.
We had a host of contracts and foundation support to support that budget in the lean economic times when most businesses and non-profits were cutting back and laying off staff. We were still growing. We were able to weather that and do well during that time.
I think I have non-profit management experience that helps and is unique.
Before that, I worked for the Jacobs Family Foundation, which was a technical assistance provider and funder for non-profits. I really learned about non-profits there.
And then before that, I had a long career in local government, and state government, and politics. I have a lot of connections and relationships. I think that is really important as we move forward.
Lastly, I am in law school currently. Law school is teaching me in a really different way. It’s really honing my analytical skills. I think it will help because many of the issues our community face have a legal underpinning.
So I say: non-profit management, policy and politics and legal background. And, of course, Pride is very big on diversity. I am sort of the embodiment of that – the son of a Baptist minster, African American, gay man.
You are scheduled to graduate law school in December. How do you plan to use that degree in the future?
The short answer is: I will not be a practicing attorney. I let the Pride Board know during the interview process that I am committed and here for the long haul. As long as they want me, and I hope that is a long time.
What is Pride’s strength?
I think Pride’s strength – and I am still being amazed by it just about every day – is the shear volume of volunteers.
Pride has a volunteer database of 2,000, and each and every year, 850 come out (just for Pride weekend). That is phenomenal. Just to be able to mobilize that many people to support this event and what it’s about is really significant.
What is Pride’s weakness?
I think our greatest opportunity is to really share more about what Pride does, and to actually be engaged in the greater civil rights, social justice issues for the LGBT community and in alliance with other communities that are struggling. Councilman Todd Gloria, recently at the Equality California Dinner, talked about a government that would deny Latinos their rights under immigration would just as easily deny another group of citizens and individuals their rights to marry.
I think there is a lot of work to be done for the LGBT community in their daily lives. We need to get the message out and let them know we are here.
There have been some past issues with Pride and the Board of Directors. Is Pride still doing damage control or is that behind you?
I would say it is behind us. I think this is a pivotal year. Probably last year was the low-water mark. The sponsorships are up. The enthusiasms seem to be up. I think we are on the upswing.
It is important for the community to know that this board is not the same board that was part of the scandal. This is a group with some long-term board members who came back after 10 years off, that really cared about Pride and wanted to come and stabilize things. Other new members have come with new energy. This is a great new board that is committed. I think we have turned the corner.
Are there any major changes for this year’s Pride that you can tell us about?
Hold on just a second.
(Crenshaw leaves the room to confer with a few other staff members privately, before returning.)
Keep your eyes and ears open for what I think is going to be one of the better entertainment lineups we’ve had in many years. There are a few tricks up our sleeves.
