When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Australia in the early months of 2020, performing arts companies and venues across the country had to pivot to a new style of community engagement – which I covered multiple times on The Otaku’s Study. One slight disappointment to me was the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), my state’s major performing arts venue, who outside of a few short-term initiatives didn’t step as far into the digital space as their interstate counterparts. Granted this could be for any number of reasons, but knowing how passionate a lot of the staff I worked with there were, my expectations were much higher. But fortunately, as of today, they now have a proper digital platform to make content available to those across Queensland and across state borders.
QPAC today unveiled their Digital Stage project, which will be updated regularly with a ” free, paid and exclusive on-demand content”, and seeking to provide “a platform for a diversity of Queensland-grown performances from around the state”. A range of content is currently available, with some being rentable/watchable by the public and some pricier options (Such as Dead Puppet Society’s The Wider Earth and Ishmael) available exclusively for schools.
Right now, the free offerings consists of behind the scenes looks into recent productions on QPAC’s four stages – such as the world premiere of Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe and the Australian premiere of An American in Paris. Also available are a number of shorts and vignettes released by QPAC in recent years, if you haven’t seen them already.
Time will tell where QPAC’s Digital Stage initiative will go from here. I think a key element of importance will be how QPAC balances the more academic-oriented content they have published in the past through their Story Magazine and The Creatory platforms, and content that may appeal to a much broader demographic of fans – with more behind the scenes content, industry insights and perhaps rising as a theatre-on-demand platform.
So what does QPAC have lined up for the near future? This is what they had to say:
Soon to be released are the epic music concert BLAKTIVISM, which was part of QPAC’s Clancestry – A Celebration of Country last month and starred the likes of Baarka, Tasman Keith and Bart Willoughby; the soaring sounds of Queensland Symphony Orchestra, including the sell-out kids show Sounds Like… an Orchestra!; and acclaimed works by internationally renowned Circa Contemporary Circus.
Want to read statements from key stakeholders? Jump across to the next page, or click HERE to view more from The Theatre Sphere.
