Urbis is proud to have provided pro-bono Planning and Heritage services to Qtopia, with our innovative and decisive advice ensuring that Australia’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQIA+ stories and history opened in time for Sydney WorldPride 2023.
Qtopia is a pop-up LGBTQIA+ museum that will provide transformative stories of LGBTQIA+ history and experiences. The museum is set to broaden the knowledge and perspectives of students, educators and the general public, through innovative education participatory programs.
Qtopia Sydney, a registered not-for-profit organisation, is committed to empowerment, inclusivity, celebration, challenge and education. Their public exhibitions, temporary displays, community engagement and education programs are resolute in their intent to represent the history and culture of the LGBTQIA+ community with integrity, authenticity and accuracy.
The pop-up Bandstand exhibition space ‘Qtopia Sydney Hub’, led by Jacqui North Curator/Museum Experience for the Bandstand, Phase 1, is a gathering place that presents queer histories and contemporary queer culture in context, and introduces Qtopia Sydney’s vision of a future Sydney LGBTQIA+ Museum. Within the museum you will find images and stories that represent identification, reflection, and participation: they celebrate those who fought for LGBTQIA+ rights and the history and activism of Mardi Gras since 1978. It also show cases the old glamour and excitement of Oxford Street and Kings Cross, the evolution of LGBTQIA+ communities; and, not least, the voices and exuberance of a new generation.
The pop-up is expected to be followed by a permanent museum in the heritage listed former police station in Forbes Street Darlinghurst – where the participants on the first night of the 1978 Mardi Gras were imprisoned and brutalised.
Urbis is always honored to contribute to diversity and inclusion for Sydney WorldPride 2023.