Hi, my name is Monica. This fundraiser is being conducted for the benefit of Kat Dopper and Heaps Gay Events Pty Ltd, the organisation behind Divine Playhouse. Funds raised will be provided to Kat Dopper and Heaps Gay to assist with legal costs, financial losses, recovery efforts and venue relocation costs associated with the closure of Divine Playhouse.

Divine Playhouse was created by artists, for artists: a one-year cultural venue where performance, creativity and community could thrive in the heart of Sydney.

After months of work and substantial investment in renovations, venue setup, marketing, artist fees and project costs, Divine Playhouse finally opened its doors. Just three peaceful and successful events later, those doors were forced shut. Since opening, escalating legal costs have pushed the total amount spent on the project beyond $200,000.

Following a public campaign by organised conservative religious groups opposing the venue, the property owners served Divine Playhouse with a Notice of Breach alleging that its operation constituted “offensive trade.” Divine Playhouse strongly maintains that no activity breached the lease, any law or any other legal obligation.

The venue has now been forced to postpone or cancel its programmed events while it fights for the right to reopen.

More than just a commercial setback, this is is a devastating blow to the artists, performers, producers, technicians, promoters and small creative businesses who had work booked at Divine Playhouse, and to an LGBTQIA+ organisation that has spent thirteen years creating safe, inclusive cultural spaces.

Kat Dopper and Heaps Gay have carried the financial responsibility for bringing Divine Playhouse to life and are now bearing the financial impact of its closure.

Your donation will go directly to Divine Playhouse (HG Events Pty. Ltd.) to help them:

• Fight this injustice and meet ongoing legal costs

• Recover money already spent and lost, including artist fees, cancelled artist fees, ticket refunds and project costs

• Secure and set up a new venue if returning to the current building is no longer possible

• Get artists, performers and audiences back together - and get Divine Playhouse back on stage

More than 180 artists were booked across the first two months alone. The full program was projected to return more than $650,000 directly to artists over the year.|

Whatever your views on queer culture, coordinated campaigns that seek to silence LGBTQIA+ organisations and shut down independent cultural spaces should concern all of us. Sydney has lost too many creative venues already. Divine Playhouse was open, funded, programmed and embraced by its community. It should not be lost like this.

All funds raised through this campaign will be provided to Kat Dopper and Heaps Gay Events Pty Ltd. Funds will first be applied to Divine Playhouse's legal, recovery, operational and relocation costs.

Any funds raised beyond Divine Playhouse's legal, recovery and relocation costs will be distributed directly to artists included in the program.

Please donate, share this fundraiser and help Divine Playhouse fight back, reopen its doors and continue creating a place where artists and communities can belong.