Get Behind the Scenes at QPAC Brisbane Open House

Get behind the scenes at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) as it opens its doors to the public on Saturday 8 October 2016 from 8.30am to 4.00pm as part of the seventh annual Brisbane Open House.

Brisbane Open Houseis a free public event that celebrates Brisbane’s architecture and offers behind-the-scenes access to 100 buildings across the city, this year running over the weekend of Saturday 8 to Sunday 9 October 2016.

Each year Brisbane Open Houseprovides the public the rare opportunity to discover a wealth of architecturally diverse, well-designed and historic buildings in Brisbane CBD, South Bank, Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill, Bowen Hills and surrounding suburbs.

QPAC Chief Executive John Kotzas said the Centre embraces Brisbane Open House as another opportunity to engage with the community and showcase that the QPAC experience is more than just what happens on stage. 

“QPAC is much more than a venue where Queenslanders and visitors can experience the best in live performing arts. The Centre is also a producer, an investor, a presenter and an iconic public place within Brisbane city’s unique Cultural Precinct. On any given day, we host artists and companies from around Australia and the world and present a broad range of performing arts genres.

“As with every day of the year, but especially for Brisbane Open House, we welcome the people of Queensland to experience their performing arts centre in new ways. We want to encourage a sense of pride within the community that QPAC is a place of meaning and storytelling and is their space to attend, participate in and create art.

“In addition to free live entertainment, and informative exhibitions, there will be opportunities at Brisbane Open House to get behind the scenes and learn what goes into running a busy performing arts centre,” said Mr Kotzas.

In the last financial year (2015/2016) QPAC staged 1550 performances and hosted close to 1.3 million visitors.

QPAC will offer a full program of activities and live performance on Saturday 8 October for Brisbane Open House including FREE behind the scenes guided tours*, self-guided foyer tours, performances and exhibitions.

The free performance highlights include an outdoor performance by the 120 strong QPAC Choir and free jazz music on QPAC’s Melbourne Street Green by the Queensland Youth Orchestra (QYO) Big Band and by the QYO Jazz Trio in QPAC’s Russell Street Wine Bar.

Visitors are also encouraged to check out the Singin’ in the Rain installation in the QPAC tunnel which traces the transition from silent to talking movies and the Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund Celebrity Merchandise Stallin theCascade Court, which has a huge range of CDs, Books, DVDs, Posters and Collectibles. On offer are autographed items from celebrities such as Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda, Billy Crystal, Geoffrey Rush, David Lynch, Isabella Rossellini, Mia Farrow, Megan Hilty, Lisa Fischer - and many more.

QPAC has participated in Brisbane Open House consecutively since its launch in 2010.

Brisbane Open House is an initiative of the Queensland Government, the Brisbane Development Association and the National Trust of Australia (Queensland) held annually in conjunction with World Architecture Day.

For more information go to: www.brisbaneopenhouse.com.au

For QPAC’s Brisbane Open House full program and timings please go to www.qpac.com.au

Image credit Brisbane Marketing