Gabriel Pinkstone - former Chief Operating Officer, Sydney WorldPride 2023 & Former Producer, Cirque du Soleil (Canada)

Gabriel Pinkstone is a seasoned leader in the performing arts industry with over 30 years of experience. As former Chief Operating Officer for Sydney WorldPride 2023, Gabriel was responsible for all operational aspects of the festival planning and delivery, including event programming and production, marketing, ticketing, PMO, and People and Culture. The event was a resounding success, with over 500,000 attendees to over 400 events over a 17-day period, filling Sydney with rainbows, queer creativity, and a lasting legacy of progress for the diverse LGBTQIA+ community in Australia and the region.

A graduate of the NIDA production course, Gabriel has since worked on more than 100 projects in live entertainment, from Broadway musicals to large-scale festivals to opera, theatre, and music, and toured to venues from country town halls to Carnegie Hall, visiting 19 countries with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Prior to her role at Sydney WorldPride, Gabriel spent 20 years at Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal, Canada, where she held various management roles on 17 new Cirque creations, notably as Production Director for the creation of TOTEM, Amaluna, and KURIOS. As Vice President of Show Quality, Gabriel oversaw the artistic quality of Cirque’s 21 Big Top, arena, and resident shows, and managed the company’s 1,300 artists. As Producer, Gabriel continued to develop new content for Cirque du Soleil, including the innovative R.U.N. in Las Vegas, and the critically acclaimed re-imagining of the Cirque touring classic, Alegría - in a New Light.

While in Canada, Gabriel and her wife were founding members of the LGBT+ Family Coalition and actively contributed to the Canadian fight for civil union, equal marriage, and parental rights.