'Wrapped for Pride!' ANZ shows support for upcoming Pride Festival

In celebration of the upcoming Auckland Pride Festival, ANZ New Zealand has turned its Ponsonby branch into a pride-themed art installation with the help of New Zealand artist Shannon Novak.

"Last year we brought the fabulous GAYTMs to Auckland and Wellington, and this year we've taken things a step further and dressed our entire branch in an amazing colourful artwork to celebrate the rich diversity of our staff and customers. We really are wrapped for Pride!" says Antonia Watson, ANZ chief financial officer and ANZ NZ Pride Network executive sponsor.

"Thirty years on from Homosexual Law Reform in New Zealand, there's lots to celebrate and reflect on. We're strong believers in diversity, inclusion and respect, and we've been supporters of the Pride community in New Zealand for over a decade," she says.

ANZ has five staff affinity groups – Māori and Pasifika, Asian, Indian, Pride and Flexible Working Parents, and Watson says they are all about encouraging staff to be themselves at work.

"Celebrating diversity is not only the right thing to do but also makes good business sense given the make-up of our staff and customers who come from all walks of life," she says.

With more than 200 individual panels, installing the Ponsonby wrap took more than 60 hours. Measuring, designing, and printing the artwork took also took number of hours.

The work, titled Rhapsody, was designed especially for the ANZ Ponsonby branch.

"When developing this work, the main idea that entered my mind was an explosion of colour. Pride is about showing the vibrant and diverse colours of our community to the world," says Novak.

Three GAYTMs, which featured in ANZ's Pride celebrations last year, will again make an appearance in 2016. These include GAYTMs on Queen Street, Broadway and K Road, with a fourth at Three Lamps as part of the building wrap.

The dolled-up Ponsonby branch and the glittering GAYTMs mark ANZ's support of Auckland's Pride Festival and sponsorship of Big Gay Out and Wellington's Out in the Park. They also acknowledge ANZ's accreditation into the Rainbow Tick programme, renewed for 2016, the company says.

Once again the GAYTMs will print special receipts and display support messages for the Pride Parade and Big Gay Out.

ANZ will continue to donate proceeds from the use of non-ANZ customer cards from the GAYTMs to OUTline, a not-for-profit counselling service that supports people dealing with gender and sexuality issues. ANZ staff will once again be marching in the Auckland Pride Parade on February 20.