QPAC YEAR IN REVIEW 2013 QPAC YEAR IN REVIEW 2013 MINISTER’S MESSAGE Welcome to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s QPAC Year in Review 2013 QPAC has a reputation locally, nationally and increasingly internationally as a centre of excellence. It is the leading performing arts centre in Queensland and along with State Library of Queensland, Queensland Museum and Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, make up the outstanding Cultural Precinct on Brisbane’s South Bank. QPAC is a place for people to gather, enjoy performances, be entertained and engage with the arts. In 2012-13 QPAC welcomed over one million people to the Centre, presented more than 1200 performances across four theatres and outdoor venues, produced the fi rst Clancestry festival and held the second season in the prestigious QPAC International Series – the Bolshoi Ballet. Many of these visitors travelled from across Queensland and Australia to enjoy QPAC’s quality arts offer. Producing and presenting major events, international exclusives, specially created festivals and the best in local and national performing arts, QPAC is also making a growing contribution to the state’s cultural tourism market. I hope you enjoy this review of QPAC’s 2013 successes and I look forward to our leading performing arts centre providing us with an even bigger and better year in 2014. The Hon. Ian Walker MP Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts CHAIR’S MESSAGE This is my fi rst year as Chair of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and I am proud to see the outstanding achievements of the organisation over this and recent years. I come to QPAC knowing that the expertise, experience and enthusiasm of the staff have made the organisation a leader in the performing arts both here in Australia and overseas. At the same time I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the board who give much of their time and experience to support and drive the excellence that is vividly displayed, almost daily. Our appreciation and gratitude is extended to the Queensland Government who provide tangible support that demonstrates their clear understanding of the value that the arts provide to the community. At QPAC we believe that watching, listening, experiencing and making art are some of the most powerful ways for people to understand themselves and the societies they live in and affect change. Our mission is to engage people through live performance in order to enrich lives and enable active participation in civic life. All of our activity reaches towards this mission. As Queensland’s state performing arts centre we fulfi ll many roles. QPAC is a venue, a producer, an investor, a presenter and a public place. On any given day we simultaneously host artists and companies from around Australia and the world, we produce our own festivals and productions, we collaborate with local arts companies, we create contexts to bridge the space between artist and audience and all the while we ensure the centre remains a viable part of a unique and vibrant cultural precinct. Over the past twelve months QPAC has embarked on a new strategic direction, one that builds on many years of growth and success. Our new plan is underpinned by the concept of ensuring public value is delivered by being entangled with our communities. The plan articulates four key focus areas that drive us – CURATE, LEARN, EXPERIENCE and SUSTAIN – and supports our vision of a world where the performing arts matter to everyone. QPAC has many reasons to be proud of 2013: the fi rst Clancestry festival, the second QPAC International Series, more record attendances and a positive balance sheet for the fourth year running. Our ongoing focus will be on our audience and ensuring that each visit to QPAC is a memorable experience. Chris Freeman AM Chair QUEENSLAND MUSEUM QPAC QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY The right way to value QPAC is to look at what it does not just individually but also in terms of leveraging the character, scale and activities of the larger arts industry as a whole. Professor Mark H. Moore QPAC is Queensland’s premier performing arts venue and a statutory body of the Queensland Government. Since opening in 1985, with the purpose to contribute to the cultural, social and intellectual development of all Queenslanders, QPAC has grown into one of the most recognised performing arts centres in the Asia Pacifi c and a driving force of Queensland’s reputation as an exciting and innovative cultural GOMA STATE LIBRARY hub. More than 17 million people have attended performances at QPAC since its opening. QPAC is positioned along the riverfront in the heart of the city and located as part of a vibrant cultural and education precinct that encompasses not only the Cultural Precinct – State Library of Queensland, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Museum – but also Griffi th University, Queensland University of Technology, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. This precinct is unique in Australia in size and character and is deeply connected to its surrounding communities. QPAC’s live performance program refl ects a commitment to excellence and diversity and includes works produced or presented by QPAC as well as those presented by others. QPAC regularly collaborates with artists, companies, producers and presenters from around the world, utilising its resources, networks and the expertise of our staff to create a dynamic live performance culture. In addition, QPAC is the performance home for Queensland’s leading performing arts companies – Queensland Ballet, Queensland Theatre Company, Opera Queensland and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QPAC operates across both the commercial and public sectors, managing the Centre to deliver fi nancial return and fulfi l its cultural and social functions. QPAC owns and operates its own ticketing service, qtix, as well as all its food and beverage retail operations. QPAC is also the country’s only major performing arts centre that invests in major musical theatre productions. Cremorne Theatre 312 seats intimate and versatile black box theatre space Playhouse 850 seats primarily designed for theatre and dance QPAC belongs to a network of fi ve major performing arts centres in Australia (Sydney Opera House, The Arts Centre [Melbourne], Adelaide Festival Centre, Perth Theatre Trust) and maintains connections with centres around the world. At the heart of QPAC’s activities is the aim to cultivate excellence in cultural thinking, planning and delivery and help build the success of art in Queensland. In all its activity, QPAC strives to be a place that is readily accessible, fi lled with people learning, exploring and having fun. QPAC has four theatres catering to a range of performance styles as well as a variety of outdoor performance spaces and studios. Lyric Theatre 2 000 seats designed primarily for opera, ballet and large-scale theatre events such as musicals Concert Hall 1 570 seats versatile space, designed primarily for orchestral performances and also used for contemporary music, stand-up comedy and awards presentations Mind boggling illusions and magic and comedy. Steve – audience review, QPAC website JANUARY 2013 began in a puff of smoke…with the world’s best magicians live on stage in The Illusionists. Mind boggling illusions and magic and comedy. JUSTIN NICHOLS, ATMOSPHERE PHOTOGRAPHY It was scary but I loved it! Oscar Wilson 7 JUSTIN NICHOLS, ATMOSPHERE PHOTOGRAPHY Summer holidays are popular with our youngest artists, audiences and their families. January featured: Hairy Maclary and Dinosaur Petting Zoo, as well as Opera Australia’s musical South Pacifi c and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap which began life as a short radio play and has become the world’s longest running production. SOUTH PACIFIC PHOTOGRAPHER JEFF BUSBY, THE MOUSETRAP ORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN CAST PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES MORGAN, HAIRY MACLARY FEBRUARY Two of the world’s greatest actors came together in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Driving Miss Daisy. Stage and screen legends Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones were joined by internationally acclaimed theatre actor Boyd Gaines and delighted audiences in this sold out season which premiered in Brisbane ahead of a national tour. Off stage the stars generously gave their time at a fundraising event to benefi t the Actors and Entertainers Benevolent Fund (Qld) at a special morning tea held at QPAC’s Lyrebird Restaurant. The Fund assists hundreds of performers each year who have fallen on hard times and need a helping hand. ANGELA LANDSBURY AND JAMES EARL JONES. DRIVING MISS DAISY. © JEFF BUSBY One of QPAC’s four Resident Companies, Southern Cross Soloists, presented its fi rst performance of the year in the Concert Hall with international mandolin master Avi Avital. The chamber music ensemble’s 2013 season included three subscription concerts across the year, each with renowned special guest artists as well as a range of other performances at QPAC. Having a reliable home at QPAC has given us opportunities to connect with new communities, be more strategic about our business while continuing to offer audiences outstanding musical experiences. Tanya Fraser, Creative Director, SxS PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID KELLY MARCH QPAC’S inaugural Clancestry: A Celebration of Country was a weeklong festival of free events, workshops, concerts, conversations bookended by opening and closing ceremonies. More than 10 000 people came together to celebrate the arts and culture practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Queensland is home to two indigenous cultures and Clancestry aims to preserve culture, build capacity and build pride among all Australians for the rich and diverse heritage of our First Nations peoples. Clancestry was supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and the Backing Indigenous Arts Initiative (Arts Queensland). Clancestry also received widespread community support including 98.9FM radio, Brisbane’s Indigenous music station.