While dining at a great height, Brisbane Powerhouse Artistic Director Kate Gould previews October’s Melt Open festival.
I find myself perched 17 metres above the ground at Vertigo, Brisbane’s most daring dining experience. Suspended off the side of the Brisbane Powerhouse, my nerves were on edge as I have to voluntarily lower my bottom off the side of the sturdy building and onto an awaiting chair. Seeing the chair would involve looking down at the looming drop, so I just have to trust that it’s there as I ease my buttocks forward. Full disclosure – I am harnessed in, but with no tension on the said apparatus, it does just feel like a small slip could be my undoing.
Embarrassingly, my painfully slow edging towards the ledge is the polar opposite of Brisbane Powerhouse’s CEO and Artistic Director Kate Gould, who, together with John Sharpe (Story Bridge Adventure Climb), co-created Vertigo.
Kate leaps like a cat onto her chair, which then lowers with a dreaded jolt! She smiles with warm, bright eyes that barely conceal her concern about whether I’m actually going to make it through our dinner, let alone conduct an intelligible interview.
Those concerns are valid. In my early twenties as an Englishman fresh to New Zealand, I hurled myself out of planes and off bridges, but twenty years on, my body and mind are clearly more risk-averse.
Kate’s humour, reminiscent of Kath and Kim’s Jane Turner, does, however, manage to dampen my burning sense of terror. Kate has had a fascinating career with a resume that boasts CEO of the Adelaide Festival and Executive Director of Hobart’s Dark MOFO, a festival known for courting controversy with its boundary-pushing artistic expression.
“Burying artist Mike Parr under Hobart’s main road and sealing bitumen over him for three days was extraordinary,” Kate recalls, noting the cheering crowd when he safely emerged.
She admits that producing a liberal festival in conservative Hobart came with challenges. “In the first year, the local council threatened to close the Nude Solstice Swim with police support!” she says, acknowledging that attitudes broadened over the years with the city and state governments going on to “showcase tremendous freedom and support for challenging art.”
In 2021, Kate moved to her current role at Brisbane Powerhouse, an iconic heritage building and arts centre. “Being from Brisbane, the idea of returning home after 18 years was compelling,” she explains.
17 metres below us, the grounds around the Powerhouse are bustling with crowds coming and going to the sold-out Comedy Festival. It’s one of many festivals this multi-venue space puts on, but tonight Kate’s focus is on the rebranded Melt Open, now in its seventh year.
“I was impressed by Brisbane’s vibrant queer culture upon my return. Melt Open is now an ‘open access’ model, allowing anyone to be part of it, similar to a fringe festival. We’ve had a great response from the community, with many venues and artists registering to participate.”
Indeed, it’s quite the talk of Brisbane’s busy queer scene when we visit. Highlights are set to include famed photographer Spencer Tunick shooting potentially thousands of nude participants on Brisbane’s iconic Story Bridge and Australian drag royalty Courtney Act leading a River Pride Parade down the Brisbane River, which Kate notes was inspired by Amsterdam’s famous Canal Parade!
As Brisbane prepares to host the Olympics and Paralympics in 2032, Kate reveals that Melt Open will spend the years building up to explore how queer identities fit in sports, when Australia has so few openly queer professional athletes.
Kate has a vision for Melt Open to become Australia’s second destination LGBTQ+ festival that can engage local communities while challenging the status quo, a mantra she has built her career on.
As I enjoy my dessert with cutlery tethered to my table to avoid dropping it and injuring the masses below, I am convinced that Kate can do anything.
For more information, visit meltopen.org