Queensland Cultural Centre to reopen following recent flooding

The Queensland Cultural Centre will welcome back audiences and patrons from tomorrow following the recent flooding.

While water from the recent floods inundated homes and businesses, the cultural precinct at South Bank was also impacted by 32 million litres of water - equating to almost 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Basements and carparks were inundated impacting critical building services and access and resulting in the closure of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Museum, Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art and the State Library of Queensland with all performances and programming cancelled.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk advised that “a workforce of 200 has worked around the clock cleaning three million litres of sludge” to allow the reopening from tomorrow of state cultural institutions including the QPAC’s Lyric Theatre, the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), with State Library of Queensland due to reopen later next week.

Queensland Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said the reopening of Disney’s Frozen the Musical tomorrow night will dazzle audiences and bring joy to many after such a challenging time.

“QPAC is a leader in presenting exceptional performing arts, and the team are working hard to reopen its other venues and theatres to connect audiences with its rich program of cultural experiences in a staged approach,” Minister Enoch said.

“QAGOMA is opening its doors from 10am tomorrow for the public to once again visit the internationally acclaimed tenth edition of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10), and to enjoy APT10 Up Late, taking place on Friday night and again on Saturday night.

“APT 10, one of the world's most significant and inspiring collections of contemporary Asian and Pacific art, is a true success story, and it’s great news that visitors will again experience the diverse stories and cultures of our region.”

Minister Enoch said visitors to Queensland Museum, opening at 9.30am tomorrow, can see a wide range of collections and exhibitions presented in the Discovery Centre, Wild State Gallery and Anzac Legacy Gallery, and at SparkLab, Sciencentre.

“While the World Science Festival Brisbane was not able to go ahead with its physical events, Queensland Museum re-imagined the Brisbane-based event with an online program, and will deliver Curiosity later in the year,” Minister Enoch added.

Minister Enoch said Queensland Museum’s Dinosaur Garden would remain closed, as would the Cultural Centre carparks, with visitors encouraged to park in surrounding South Brisbane car parks such as BCEC or alternatively access public transport.

Minister Enoch noted “the flooding has caused significant damage to the Centre’s complex electrical and mechanical equipment, but I can confirm all the Centre’s collections are safe and secure.

“The arts are key to delivering our Government’s plan for economic recovery from COVID-19, each year contributing $8.5 billion into the state’s economy and supporting more than 92,000 jobs for Queenslanders.

QPAC Chief Executive John Kotzas said it was exciting that QPAC could start to share the magic of live performance again and shared “after more than two weeks of cancelled and rescheduled performances due to the floods, this is just the news we’ve been waiting for and working so hard to achieve.

“Having our Lyric Theatre alive with performance and our building buzzing with audiences is what we’re all about, and we can’t wait to welcome our community through the doors again.

“Unfortunately, not all our theatres can reopen at once with ongoing repair work needed for our Concert Hall, Playhouse and Cremorne Theatre to reopen. However, having our Lyric open at least is the start of more good things to come.”