QPAC’s new Chief Executive, Rachel Healy, shares her powerful vision for the performing arts

Ushering in a new era, she has much to offer in her role at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
A woman in a black and white patterned shirt with grey shoulder length straight hair leans against a divider with some steps leading upwards behind her on both right and left. Rachel Healy.

Recently appointed Chief Executive of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Rachel Healy has a formidable background in the performing arts, bringing both managerial leadership and artistic credentials to her new role. Born and raised in Adelaide, she tells ArtsHub: “I fell in love with the theatre when I saw the musical, Annie, in Adelaide as a young girl and my passion for the performing arts has never abated since then.”

Healy’s impressive CV includes early theatre roles in Adelaide leading to wide-ranging executive leadership roles including managing Belvoir St Theatre, Vivid Festival and as Director of the Performing Arts at the Sydney Opera House. Alongside revered director, Neil Armfield, it was in her role as joint Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival from 2015-22 that her reputation was truly cemented. She and Armfield delivered a series of critically acclaimed festivals, augmenting corporate and government support with increased box office sales and audience attendances.

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Suzannah Conway is an experienced arts administrator, having been CEO of Opera Queensland, the Brisbane Riverfestival and the Centenary of Federation celebrations for Queensland. She is a freelance arts writer and has been writing reviews and articles for over 20 years, regularly reviewing classical music, opera and musical theatre in particular for The Australian and Limelight magazine as well as other journals. Most recently she was Arts Hub's Brisbane-based Arts Feature Writer.