This September, Brisbane doesn’t just host a festival – it becomes one. Bridges will bloom with inflatable art, fire sculptures will flicker and blaze in the botanic gardens, and dancers will launch themselves across stages, rooftops and skate ramps.

Over 23 days, from 5–27 September, Brisbane Festival 2025 will transform the city into a playground. For its Artistic Director Louise Bezzina, whose tenure at the festival’s helm ends with this program (her sixth), it’s also a love letter to the city. “It’s a celebration of everything Brisbane Festival has become: a world-class event with a fiercely local heart.”

Featuring 21 world premieres, this year’s festival spotlights more than 2,200 artists in 1,069 performances and makes space for everyone – from global superstars and avant-garde innovators to drag performers, refugee storytellers, amateur guitarists and suburban dance troupes. Notably, nearly 40 percent of the program is free.

Music to move you

Sheridan Harbridge: AMPLIFIED. Photo © Laura Du Ve

Music of all kinds is...