BRISBANE IS TURNING ITS CITY INTO ART

The Brisbane Festival story starts with The Warana Festival, which first lit up the city in 1961. Much loved, the festival ‘by the people, for the people,’ was all heart and community spirit. But after the buzz of Expo ’88, Brisbane was ready to dream bigger. In 1996, the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council relaunched Warana as Brisbane Festival. Around the same time, Riverfestival arrived, celebrating the river with arts, science, sport, and sustainability. Its showstopper? Riverfire, the fireworks spectacular that quickly became a Brisbane icon. In 2009, the two festivals came together, creating the vibrant, city-wide, international arts festival we know today.

From counterculture to underground theatre, the city’s artists have always created on their own terms. That radical spirit continues to drive the festival — blending bold innovation with world-class production, amplifying local voices while embracing the global stage. It’s where creativity takes over the city, where anything feels possible, and where the unexpected becomes the unforgettable.

Walk This Way is one of Brisbane Festival's big 2025 highlights, in what marks the last year of six at the helm for Artistic Director Louise Bezzina. Brisbane art and design duo Craig Redman and Karl Maier, who are globally known as Craig & Karl, have been given the task of transforming the Goodwill, Neville Bonner and Kangaroo Point bridges with large-scale art. With this free part of the fest's program, you'll not only see these structures as you've never seen them before and, of course, mosey along them; you'll also follow the path around the city to other iconic sites.

Here's some of the other ways that Brisbane Festival 2025 is showing its affection for its hometown: with after-dark experience Afterglow among those global debuts, filling the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens with fire sculptures and candlelit installations.

Two of the fest's other huge drawcards stem from the world of dance. Thanks to Gems, which was commissioned by French luxury house Van Cleef & Arpels, Brisbane will witness three specific pieces by acclaimed choreographer Benjamin Millepied and LA Dance Project staged together for the first time ever. And courtesy of Baleen Moondjan, First Nations artist and Bangarra Dance Theatre founder Stephen Page is back home in Brisbane with a production that explores the link between baleen whales and Country — and, fittingly, will be performed in a barge featuring whale bone sculptural elements on the Brisbane River.