A message from our new CEO, Cecily Hardy

Photographer: Giuseppe Santamaria

I’m deeply honoured to announce that I’m stepping into the role of Chief Executive Officer at Qtopia Sydney.

Qtopia Sydney exists because people fought to make sure our stories would be remembered. As the daughter of someone who protested one year on from 1978, that history matters deeply to me. I was raised in a queer family, and that lived experience lives in me still.

As Sydney loses queer spaces, Qtopia Sydney has a crucial role to play not only in preserving and sharing LGBTQIA+ history, but in contributing to the cultural life of Sydney today. It has a chance to be somewhere everyone in our communities can gather, create, look to the future, and feel safe.

Over the last twenty years, I’ve had the privilege of leading some of Australia's most ambitious cultural organisations and public programs—producing award-winning premieres for major arts festivals, taking work from the Central Desert to London and Shanghai, serving as CEO of Legs On The Wall, working on the Namatjira Project, leading as Executive Producer of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, and directing public programs at The Ethics Centre. Beyond executive leadership, my life has been lived on every kind of stage—as an actor, TV host, auctioneer, and marriage celebrant.

I’m excited by what Qtopia Sydney can become as a vibrant cultural space people return to again and again. There is an enormous opportunity ahead to bring fresh energy, ideas, and vision to the precinct, while staying firmly rooted in community and recognising everything that has already been created here.

I step into this role knowing exactly what this place is for—and exactly why it is worth protecting. I look forward to connecting with you all as we build this next chapter together.

- Cecily (CC) Hardy