New QPAC chief executive Rachel Healy’s bold plan to fill theatres
If the new chief of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Rachel Healy, has her way, there will be no empty theatre seats as she breathes new life into programming.
If the new chief executive of Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Rachel Healy, has her way, there will be no empty theatre seats as part of her bold plan to broaden programming and attract new audiences.
Ms Healy’s appointment comes at a pivotal time for the Sunshine State’s leading arts venue, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025 and coincide with the city’s next growth stage in the lead-up to the 2032 Olympic Games. She believes this is the perfect opportunity to re-articulate QPAC’s purpose.
“Nationally, there is a sense of Brisbane just transforming itself,” Ms Healy said.
“The Olympics are coming and there’s been this incredible investment in a new cultural space and a new venue. It’s got all the opportunity that a cultural boulevard (globally) offers.”
Ms Healy has taken the helm of QPAC from John Kotzas, who announced his intention to wrap up his 16-year tenure as CEO last year after more than 30 years at the institution.
Ms Healy is a newcomer to Queensland but no stranger to the arts industry. She was joint artistic director at the Adelaide Festival for seven years until 2022 and has held executive leadership positions at Belvoir St Theatre, the Sydney Opera House and Vivid Festival.
One of her early goals is to introduce a year-round education and family program designed to welcome people at every stage, from toddlers to grandparents.
“The promise needs to be that we are here for you for your whole life,” Ms Healy said.
“There’s lots of great shows, but I think that we can tell a bigger story about our role in the city, our role in the state, our value. And I don’t just mean our economic value, I mean our social and cultural value.”
She would also like to explore the option of introducing box office “rush tickets” to allow empty seats to be sold last minute at discounted prices, which has been popularised at leading theatres around the world.
The venue currently has four theatres, with a fifth to open in 2026, several years later than expected and over-budget due to the pandemic and the 2022 Brisbane floods. It’s opening will allow for a 30 per cent lift in programming potential. Having previously worked at the Sydney Opera House as the director of performing arts, Ms Healy would like to draw on that experience and work on attracting big artists to QPAC’s halls to reach new communities, citing sellout Bollywood and heavy metal acts.
“I’d love to see more contemporary music from across the globe, not just the passing pop stars,” she said. “(There are) these incredible artists who are the heroes of the homeland who are just jaw-droppingly amazing in concert but had not come through the radar of mainstream music media. Yet these communities … would walk on cut glass to see them.
“That’s the key … really asking and thinking, well, who in the community isn’t coming? This is for everyone.”
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