Brisbane Festival invites visitors to “Find Your Fit” when Queensland’s favourite celebration of arts and culture takes over the city in spectacular style from 30 August to 21 September 2024.
From family-friendly spectacles to budget-friendly events, international superstars to hometown heroes, brand-new productions to returning favourites – it’s never been easier to “Find Your Fit” for a Festival experience unique to you.
Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Louise Bezzina delivers her fifth program of world premieres, Australian exclusives, Queensland debuts and Brisbane spotlights, starting with a dazzling opening weekend guaranteed to unite, inspire and entertain the city.
Brisbane Festival begins with a flourish when the highly anticipated Australian exclusive, Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show, struts down the South Bank Piazza runway in a collision of fashion, music, pop culture, cabaret and art (30 August – 15 September).
Adding local flair to European extravagance is Queensland Indigenous artist Grace Lillian Lee who will unveil a bespoke couture piece in the revue-style show, developed in collaboration with the international fashion icon.
Lee will spearhead another world premiere, her debut solo exhibition, The Dream Weaver: Guardians of Grace (30 August – 21 September), featuring eight ethereal pieces at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Once again heralding the opening weekend of Brisbane Festival with flair and frivolity is Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust (31 August), the city’s biggest and most-loved fireworks spectacular.
Australian Retirement Trust’s Chief Member Experience Officer Simonne Burnett said the Fund is incredibly proud to be naming partner of Brisbane’s night of nights.
“Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust is all about awakening Queensland’s capital and bringing our community together,” Burnett said. “We know thousands of our members love lining the banks of the beautiful Brisbane River to take in the celebrations. Our members are at the heart of Australian Retirement Trust, and we’re proud to support an event that focuses on connection, building culture and celebrating the great city of Brisbane.”
More than 500,000 people are expected to line the Brisbane River and inner-city vantage points to watch the free, accessible and family-friendly pyrotechnics display with football fans at the Brisbane Broncos and Dolphins home game also treated to a three-minute fireworks display over Suncorp Stadium at full-time.
Brisbane Festival has a brand-new playground in 2024 with ANZ Festival Garden (30 August – 21 September) welcoming all ages to its riverside hub of food, wine, art and live performances at South Bank.
“ANZ is excited to deliver an important piece of the event experience – ANZ Festival Garden,” said General Manager, Marketing at ANZ, Sian Chadwick. “This hub of creativity and culinary delights is a wonderful place to bring so many Queenslanders together. Queensland is thriving, and we’re proud to partner with Brisbane Festival for this terrific showcase of the very best art and culture from around the state and the world.”
Also returning with a fun and fresh new look is The Art Boat (30 August – 21 September), a Brisbane River voyage like no other with DJs, burlesque, cabaret, drag and circus entertainment curated by Brisbane’s ultimate party people, BRIEFS FACTORY.
Described as theatre for Netflix fans, Volcano (30 August – 15 September) is a never-before-seen hybrid event that plays out over four 45-minute episodes with intermissions between each episode.
Combining theatre and dance with a television sci-fi thriller, Brisbane Powerhouse audiences can “binge-watch” the Australian-first production that blurs the line between fact and fantasy.
The stage is set for Brisbane Festival to host an impressive slate of world premiere productions including the page-to-stage adaptations of Trent Dalton’s Love Stories (10 – 29 September) at QPAC’s Playhouse and Rachel Burke’s Fancy Long Legs (12 – 22 September) at La Boite Theatre.
Queensland-based Dancenorth Australia also debuts its brand-new work, Lighting the Dark (12 – 14 September), developed in collaboration with Chris Dyke, a dancer and emerging choreographer with Down Syndrome, and inspired by his real-life heroes Banksy, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.
Big Name, No Blankets (20 – 21 September) is a rock ‘n’ roll masterclass at QPAC Concert Hall celebrating Warumpi Band, the first Australian rock band to sing in Aboriginal languages.
The epic concert event continues Brisbane Festival’s proud history of inviting Indigenous storytellers and artists to create and perform works of cultural and creative significance.
This extends to Gurr Era Op (11 – 14 September), a powerful, female-focused celebration of Torres Strait Islander culture and a climate call-to-action playing at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Among the seven productions making their Queensland premieres at Brisbane Festival are Eucalyptus – The Opera (4 – 5 September), a new opera based on Murray Bail’s Miles Franklin Award-winning novel, Eucalyptus, and Restless Dance Theatre’s Private View (18 – 21 September), a raw and revelatory exploration of sexuality and disability.
Brisbane Festival expands its strong tradition of free community programs, delivered in 2024, in partnership with the Department of Premier and Cabinet and The Department of Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities and the Arts.
Brisbane Serenades, proudly supported by Brisbane Festival’s Community Engagement Partner Airbnb returns with free mini-festivals and curated musical experiences across Brisbane suburbs including Moorooka Block Party (7 September), Voices of Victoria Park (8 September), St Lucia Serenades (14 September), Portside Serenades at Northshore Brisbane (15 September) and Pasifika Made at Kuraby (21 September).
Just as Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust ignites the city on opening weekend, the dazzling drone show, Skylore – The Rainbow Serpent (19 – 21 September), ensures all eyes are again on the sky across the closing weekend.
More than 400 drones will animate a spectacular First Nations story in the 3D multicolour show that celebrates culture and place and draws on the success of 2023’s Nieergoo: Spirit of the Whale.
Brisbane Festival returns from 30 August – 21 September 2024.
See the full program, subscribe for updates and purchase tickets at brisbanefestival.com.au.
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