QPAC Celebrates Record Season

Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) has achieved its highest attendance on record for the year ending July 2018.

Attendance at QPAC reached 1,573,582 for the 2017-18 financial year, exceeding the previous record set in 2014-15 (1,405,101) by close to 170,000 attendances.

QPAC Chief Executive John Kotzas said the results spoke volumes of the vital performing arts sector in Australia, especially the vibrancy of the Queensland Cultural Centre; the diverse program delivered at QPAC to attract audiences; and the opportunities for investment in the future of performing arts in Queensland.

"QPAC has exceeded the attendances of our biggest year on record, which previously was the year Disney's The Lion King premiered to Queensland audiences and broke records for box office earnings.

"For QPAC, the results are testament to the hard work of our team in delivering a diverse program this past year. A program that has attracted more audiences from Queensland and beyond.

"QPAC has seen a big year for musicals including The Bodyguard, Kinky Boots, The Wizard of Oz, MAMMA MIA!, and Disney's Aladdin, and Queenslanders do love a musical! We have also worked hard to attract new works and new audiences to our theatres, and produce and present meaningful performance opportunities in collaboration with many local, national and International Artists and companies.

"We also proudly presented our 26th biennial Out of the Box Festival dedicated to children eight years and under, which saw children and their carers access a greater amount of rich arts experiences than ever before, and community and school engagement across Queensland.

"These results demonstrate continued growth and unlock the Centre's capacity to re-invest heavily in public engagement and learning. In particular, supporting emerging artists and companies for the development of new work in Queensland, as well as expansion of our program to other parts of the State.

"We are elated with the recent announcement of a fifth theatre at QPAC and the opportunities this will bring to expand our program in future, but let's not forget that our program currently utilises as much of the Centre's existing spaces and available mediums as possible to deliver richer engagement for our audiences and a meaningful visitor experience.

"Our museum, a valuable yet relatively unknown asset of QPAC, is one example of this and has delivered some fantastic free exhibitions this year that attracted attendees and added value to our visitor experience. These included Made on the Body, Puppet People, See My Story and Show and Tell in our Tony Gould Gallery and Tunnel installations during this period were Shoes, The Plot Thickens and Home (Out of the Box).

"Any upside that QPAC sees is re-invested into these initiatives and we will continue to seek support to maximise impact and work towards our mission of engaging people through live performance to enrich lives and help create connected communities," said Mr Kotzas.