Queensland Ballet left dangling as financial crisis revealed
Queensland Ballet has shocked the arts world and fans by announcing they are in financial trouble and will have to shed jobs including dancers.
It seems appropriate that Queensland Ballet’s most recent production of Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy. The problem is that while the show is over, the tragedy continues for the company, with shock media reports about restructuring, which basically means slashing jobs, including those of dancers.
The company that former artistic director Li Cunxin turned into a powerhouse with an international reputation is now “beleaguered”, as one headline put it.
And while we understand times are tough, it’s sad to see this state of affairs leaked to a national newspaper. What should have happened is that Queensland Ballet chair Brett Clark should have fronted the Brisbane media to tell us what was happening to our company, which is run largely with our money through state and federal funding.
Incoming artistic director Ivan Gil-Ortega must be mortified. The first indication that something was terribly wrong was the company’s unseemly parting of ways with his predecessor, international ballet star Leanne Benjamin, who left over differences with the company over money. Now we know why.
The whole affair has a touch of Yes, Minister about it. Remember the swish hospital that cost so much they couldn’t afford patients? Queensland Ballet has a swish new building but can’t afford to keep all their dancers.
You might like
in the end the company only has itself to blame for the situation it has got itself into
The company recorded a $1.57 million deficit in 2023 and hasn’t published its 2024 annual report, but we can guess it won’t be good news.
The lack of increased federal funding doesn’t help and that is a bit of a scandal in itself, but in the end the company only has itself to blame for the situation it has got itself into. Li Cunxin (who retired due to ill health in late 2023) grew the company and expanded the Queensland Ballet Academy, which is an amazing institution. The Federal Government should be pumping money into it, but isn’t. Instead, it still sees Sydney and Melbourne as more important than us.
Apparently, job losses will be a mix of voluntary and compulsory redundancies. They are still working that out and ducking for cover in the process, issuing a statement but saying no interviews will be given and they haven’t said how many staff will be let go.
Subscribe for updates
“Queensland Ballet is proud to have put in place firm foundations that will stand our 65-year-old organisation in strong stead for the future,” says QB chair Brett Clark. “We have invested in our infrastructure by building homes for our artists, our next generation of artists and all in our sector and community.
“We’ve also grown a culture of support from our family of audience, donors and corporate partners that have sustained us through annual support, capital campaigns and now our endowment drive.
“Over the years, we have worked hard to leverage our base grants from state and federal governments and have unapologetically advocated loudly for parity of federal funding to bring us in line with our peers in NSW and Victoria. To date, we have been unsuccessful.
“In 2025, to ensure our ongoing sustainability, we have made the difficult decision to re-vision our organisation across our artistic and business teams, which will see us farewell some of our artists and arts workers. This is not an easy time for us. What we know is that we need to align our teams with the opportunities within a new operating model so that we continue to thrive into the future.”
It’s sad, but obviously necessary. Still, it comes as a shock and takes the gloss off having the most spectacular headquarters of any Australian ballet company, in the refurbished Thomas Dixon Centre, which cost $100 million and obviously drained the coffers.
State Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek has stated: “Queensland Ballet is going through a period of restructuring their business and they are continuing to consult with staff as part of this process. The company is a respected Queensland brand and I am monitoring this situation closely.”
We love our state ballet company and we wish them well, but we do need a bit more transparency from them.