“I can see the appetite in South East Queensland for the performing arts is enormous, and as our city is maturing I can see that there are a lot of opportunities,” said Mr Kotzas.
The dialogue has gained momentum following Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s announcement last month of plans to fund a study over the next 12 months looking at the demands across the sector.
Part of the $3 billion Queens Wharf development, a consultant, who is yet to be appointed, will investigate the size and features of the city’s next live venue, along with the appropriate location.
Though South East Queensland is being serviced well at the moment, looking at Brisbane’s current population, Mr Kotzas says Queensland is on a trajectory to have a fairly significant population growth by 2030, and that a 1,500-seat theatre would be the most appropriate choice.
“I’ve not done a formal study personally on this, but when I look around and I see the number of smaller theatres throughout Brisbane and South East Queensland, the obvious thing that our sector needs is a theatre that sits somewhere between the Playhouse (800) and the Lyric Theatre (2,000),” he explains.
While the CEO admitted a number of smaller theatres are faring well currently, he also emphasised that the sector should be aspiring for growth. Though he admits a 2,000-seater would be too much of a stretch, keeping in mind the audience’s experience.
“If you’re an audience member, you want to be in a theatre that’s fairly full and that you’re feeling that you’re a part of a theatre community that enables you to have a very good theatrical experience.
“So a 1,500-seater – that, I imagine, feels like the natural growth for the whole of the sector in South East Queensland.”
However a number of people disagree with Mr Kotzas’ proposal, including La Boite theatre’s Todd McDonald, Queensland Theatre Company’s Sue Donnelly and Brisbane Arts Theatre’s Ruby Foster, who all argue what the city is missing is an intimate 500-seat theatre.
But Mr Kotzas is convinced the study will determine his solution to be the right one.
“When I look at the capacity of QPAC at the moment, we’re now at 82 per cent occupancy – we’ve got 1.4 million attendance,” he said.
“I can see there’s a demand coming in the future and the number of people that want to attend the theatre will be at a level where one big venue cannot accommodate that, nor can the existing little theatres combined together.”