Former Sydney WorldPride chief executive Kate Wickett says Australia should host WorldPride again following the event’s success in 2023.
Speaking to Gay Sydney News following the announcement that she had been appointed as chief executive of Sydney’s City Recital Hall, Wickett said it was “not such a silly idea” for Australia to host the LGBTI+ event again.
“Anyone can bid to host WorldPride if you register and meet the requirements of InterPride, if you’re a member and your fee goes through,” Wickett said. “I think we should be bringing it back to Australia sooner rather than later.
“It’s been held in America a number of times in the northern hemisphere.”
Following Sydney WorldPride, Wickett wound up the organisation and finished as chief executive on June 30 last year before taking a belated honeymoon with her wife Anna Brown, the chief executive of Equality Australia. The two got married four months before WordPride, in November 2022.
“We obviously didn’t take any honeymoon at that time. [So], unsurprisingly, I took a couple of months off post-WorldPride and went overseas with [Brown] … to relax and reset.
“When I came back to Australia, I did a number of small consulting engagements, which has been wonderful – both in the arts area and in corporate strategy. And I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve [now] secured this role at the City Recital Hall.”
Wickett wants to deversify the Recital Hall’s audience, which we’ll get to later in this article, but indulged Gay Sydney News in reflecting on her time at Sydney WorldPride and how the event went.
Sydney WorldPride reflections
“It exceeded all expectations,” Wickett said of WorldPride. “I was just thrilled with the way the [LGBTI+] community – [as well as] government, corporate, international and domestic communities – responded. It was great to bring all of the community together.
“We set out to have a goal that everyone would be represented and all parts of our community and we’ve just had such wonderful feedback.”
Wickett was particularly proud of the creation of the Ultra Violet party during Sydney WorldPride, which, like the Bondi Beach Party, was brought back for the 2024 Mardi Gras line-up. The Ultra Violet party specifically catered for women, non-binary people and trans women.
“We made a commitment for WorldPride that we would invest in a women’s event the same way we would for a men’s event,” Wickett said. “Men could go obviously, but it was purely dedicated to a women’s space and it sold out.
“I’m incredibly proud of that because there was clearly a gap in programming,” she said, referring to many pride events around the world being tailored for men. “Community stalwarts Sveta Gilman and Jess ‘Bunny’ Hill (aka Estee Louder) curated the event brilliantly.
“The women’s event is really important because that had never been done before on that scale,” she said. “And to my knowledge, [Ultra Violet] is the largest women’s event that’s ever been run at a WorldPride, if not a pride, anywhere in the world.
“That really was a result of the fact that I have travelled the world multiple times at different prides and different parties and there’s never a female women’s event, and if there is it’s extremely poorly funded and the production values are just not up to scratch.”
Wickett was the first-ever female CEO of a WorldPride, which she reflected on as enabling “cognitive diversity and diversity in programming”.
Wickett also said that as part of the 2023 Sydney WorldPride, it was important that any sponsors showed a genuine commitment towards the community. This included sponsoring Mardi Gras 2022 and 2024, as well as WorldPride 2023.
“That three-year agreement spoke to the longevity of the relationship and the commitment to the LGBTQI community. So it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, slap a rainbow on [branding exercise]. It was a deep commitment to all parts of our community all year round.”
Additionally, corporate sponsors needed to align themselves with WorldPride’s ethics charter.
“We actually said ‘no’ to a number of corporates who wanted to partner with us, either based on their current work or lack of current work in our community or their particular industry. So I think it’s really powerful. We [didn’t just accept any money from anyone, but [had] … guardrails or a litmus test of: Do you align with us? Have you aligned with us before? And are you committed all year round?”
City Recital Hall gig
Post WorldPride, Wickett said it was important to be “values aligned” with any organisation that she worked with, which was why she said her role as chief executive of the City Recital Hall was a good fit.
“I really enjoy the arts and music,” she said. “This role for me is really a combination of my love for Sydney as a city and the arts, and this is just such an iconic venue with so much potential to grow and to represent new artists.
“It’s a world-class venue. Orchestral and music excellence is on view here and on display, and I’m just thrilled to help grow the brand and grow the venue so that we can showcase incredible music right in the heart of the city.”
Getting new audiences to go to the Recital Hall, which is somewhat hidden in Sydney’s CBD in Angel Place, was one of the challenges that lay ahead, she said.
“We do need to have greater visibility in the music scene,” Wickett said. “And when I say music, I’m really keen to grow the audience and diversify the audience for the brilliant orchestral pieces that are here.”
The Recital Hall also hosts other events, whether they be for contemporary music or for panel discussions like during the Sydney Writers’ Festival. It also recently hostedThe Laramie Project for one night only, the play about the shocking 1998 murder of 21-year-old gay man Matthew Shepard.
The Recital Hall will also be hosting a Heaps Gay Queens Ball event on July 13.
The Recital Hall’s chairs can be removed and Wickett said she was open to having the recital hall being used for theatre plays. However, she said it depends on the type of production and its technical requirements.
“The venue lends itself to a multitude of different types of events. And I think the thing to know is that the sound quality is world-class, if not the best in Australia.
“It was purpose-built as a recital hall, so the sound is incredible. And we’ve just gone through a process of investing in a new sound system throughout the hall, so it’s pretty impressive.”
Gay Sydney News editor