West Aussie recognised for decades of devotion to performance as she calls on bigger focus on the arts

An ambition to spend her life loving what she does is what landed Dr Carolyn Chard as a finalist in the 2026 Western Australian of the Year awards.

For four decades Dr Chard has poured herself into the performing arts, and the for the past 25 years, opera has dominated her focus.

As WA Opera’s executive director, she lives and breathes what she thinks many people too easily disregard about the transformative impact of the arts.

“They remind us how to feel. They interrupt routine. They expand perspective. They connect us to one another. They give shape to joy, grief, love, fear, hope and wonder, all the emotions that make us human,” Dr Chard said.

“The arts make Western Australia a wonderful place to live.”

Performance acts as a vessel for emotion and expression, which as the Covid pandemic proved, is vital for human connection, Dr Chard said.

“Theatre and opera represent bringing people together for a common goal and a shared experience,” she said. “We see ourselves reflected in the scenes and storylines that we recognise in ourselves.”

Dr Chard moved to WA with her family in the late 1960s, and despite her decades-long devotion to her work, never expected to find herself among this year’s three finalists for the Crown Arts and Culture Award. She said she is “proud to be recognised as a finalist”.

“You don’t work in my field of the arts expecting recognition. Most arts administrators are happiest quietly making things happen behind the scenes: bringing people together, solving problems, and helping create those special performance moments that move audiences,” she said.

At the core of her work is a simple desire to spend her life doing something she loves.

“I wanted to spend every day of work loving what I did but did not expect this recognition,” she said.

Dr Chard argues against the misconception that opera is “elitist” and envisions a world where art is treated with similar vital importance as sport, health or education.

“They feed the soul and help us to feel. Music, opera, theatre is a pure act of collaboration and cooperation between people,” she said.

“In an ideal world we would enable everyone to actively engage in the arts; to value, appreciate and recognise the daily need to be soaked in art.”

If nothing else, she hopes her nomination will help West Aussies see that opera is for everyone.

“It’s accessible, beautiful, creative, inspirational. The artists and art workers who all come together to create something magical in the theatre, to find that moment where all the detail and every individual contribution finds a magical synergy that, in live performance, is always fleeting and unique,” Dr Chard said.

“Singers, artists, musicians, conductors, directors, designers, stage managers, crew, who all devote their time, talent and passion to their craft and without each one, nothing would work.”

Dr Carolyn Chard is a finalist in the Crown Arts and Culture Award category of the 2026 Western Australian of the Year awards. Winners will be announced on Thursday May 28.