Yarmila Alfonzetti, new head of arts and culture for Experience Gold Coast, on future of HOTA

With a reputation as the premier ‘fixer’ in the market, arts executive and Experience Gold Coast’s new culture guru is imagining new horizons for the city’s cultural heart. This is what she has planned.

“It’s better than Dreamworld!”

No offence intended to our iconic theme park, because this rave review was directed at HOTA, now considered one of the coolest art attractions in all of Australia.

The glowing appraisal itself, courtesy of a father and his young daughter visiting from Victoria, was so perfectly timed it practically seemed like a piece of performance art.

After all, the audience for this complimentary critique was none other than the brand new head of arts and culture for Experience Gold Coast, Yarmila Alfonzetti.

Just 10 days into the job, which was newly created to lead the future direction of HOTA and events like Bleach* and Big City Lights, Alfonzetti was delighted with this assessment, delivered directly to her table at the Exhibitionist, with its view of the city’s masterpiece skyline.

“We were so surprised to see the Gold Coast had something like this,” said the father, as his little girl admired the table’s floral centrepiece, made completely of Lego. “She had to be talked into coming here, but now she never wants to leave. It’s better than Dreamworld!”

Yarmila Alfonzetti, new Head of Arts and Culture at Experience Gold Coast. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

While Alfonzetti kept her HOTA head honcho role under her hat during this discussion, there’s no doubt it impressed her just as much as the arts precinct did these tourists.

So it’s surprising that taking this role took more than a little convincing.

With two decades worth of experience as an arts industry executive, most recently as CEO of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and previously leading State Opera South Australia and overseeing major programming at the Sydney Opera House, Alfonzetti said she couldn’t see how she would fit in an organisation based around the visitor economy.

But once she was introduced to the concept of Experience Gold Coast, which she described as a ‘start-up on steroids’, she started to envision how it would work. And then she met with EGC’s secret weapon.

“Once I met with John Warn, I couldn’t resist. He is the CEO’s CEO, he understands strategy better than anyone and has so much emotional intelligence. He’s the ultimate deal-maker.

“I started to realise that this role was a blank slate, a blue sky opportunity, and with John at the helm there is not a doubt that this won’t be wildly successful.”

While Alfonzetti’s previous roles built her reputation as the premier ‘fixer’ in the market, turning around and transforming underachieving organisations through strategic restructuring and creative programming, this job would see a new twist.

Alfonzetti said while there was nothing to be ‘fixed’ here, there was plenty of potential for further growth.

Just over a week into the job, her plans already include maximising the outdoor stage, furthering festivals at the precinct and switching up exhibits to focus on gallery visitor numbers – already at almost one million every year.

“I believe in the scientific definition of culture, which is creating the ideal conditions for growth. To me, that is my job, to create an environment where growth, whether in visitation numbers or investment, can flourish.

“That means we need a solid commercial plan as well, the dirty part of business for any artist. But we have to make sure we wash our face, we have to at least break even, and that may mean some hard decisions have to be made, like cloth cutting for optimisation.

“I’ll admit I am obsessed with attendance figures and I have some big growth targets,” she said. “Visitation is already close to one million per year, but that’s just the starting point.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I actually don’t think we’ll have any problem in meeting them … there is just this burgeoning sense of opportunity here on the Gold Coast, the future is wide open.

“I see that especially with the outdoor stage, we haven’t even started using it to its full potential yet, I want to blow that sky-high.

“I want to see activations and festivals increase, and that’s really drawing on my experience with the Opera House and events we’ve held like in South Australia with 10,000 on the beach for opera.

“Rather than just ticking the box for each art category, we want to give the people what they really want – we need to be responsive, relevant and interactive.”

The HOTA gallery has been winning rave reviews. Picture: Jerad Williams.

Alfonzetti said while exhibitions were often booked years in advance, that didn’t mean the plans could not change.

She said visitors should soon expect to see the influence of gallery director Susi Muddiman OAM, especially as she had just acquired two new pieces by Queensland artist Gerwyn Davies, to be exhibited in gallery 2 when it reopened in August and which would form part of the HOTA Collection.

The two works were titled Cola, an archival pigment print, and No Vacancy, consisting of reconfigured costumes. The contract and purchase price of the works were confidential.

“We can always change things up, and that’s what visitors will see. We want to ramp up the interaction and move away from static exhibits,” said Alfonzetti

“That’s in the short term, but then in the long term we’re looking at all the possibilities with the Lyric theatre. That is just going to set the precinct on fire.”

Plans revealed last month showed how a $538 million lyric theatre precinct would be developed at the HOTA grounds, with at least $1 million in budget money put aside for council to fast track the arts project.

Mayor Tom Tate said the plan was to create a business case so the proposed theatre could be “shovel ready” for future state and federal funding.

Yarmila Alfonzetti, new Head of Arts and Culture at Experience Gold Coast. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The latest report on the new arts facility showed the 1800-seat theatre would have a potential conference centre and would host category A musicals like Frozen and Harry Potter. It would attract an extra 260,000 people annually to the precinct, including 38,000 from southeast Queensland and interstate, and would ultimately return an estimated $35 million in accommodation and visitor spend, the report said.

While her eyes were focused on future opportunities, Alfonzetti has wasted no time in getting settled on the ground in her new Gold Coast home.

“In the 10 days I’ve had on the job, I’ve been to every single thing that’s been on the Gold Coast – over the weekend I was at Elvis: A Musical Revolution, Those Who Rock, Big City Lights and two movies … you have to know what’s happening, get a taste for the trends,” she said.

“We’re just so lucky in this city to have a body like Experience Gold Coast and a council and mayor who work so well with us and really undertake that heavy lifting together.

“To me there’s no division between what locals like and what tourists want, what’s good for one is great for the other and vice versa. So that makes the task simpler, at least.

“I have extremely high expectations and I know this is no easy task, I’m sure there will be tears and failure along the way and I do feel somewhat daunted … but that’s what the arts is all about, wearing your heart on your sleeve.’

When it comes to tears, a tough search for her new Gold Coast home nearly saw Alfonzetti break out the tissues … but she managed to see the positive in that as well.

“I’ve moved from Brisbane so I’m just renting while I find my feet, but I was blown away by the competition for accommodation here. Lines of people waiting to get in the door at inspections, it was incredible.

“I was so lucky to find a little apartment in Mermaid, but I was also so excited to see all these people desperate to live in this city, there is an electric atmosphere here, you can feel it.

“Now I get to be a part of it … it’s a thrill.”

For Alfonzetti, this is her dream world.

Originally published as Yarmila Alfonzetti, new head of arts and culture for Experience Gold Coast, on future of HOTA