Photos: Brisbane Festival 2026 to Open with Ebony Bott's Inaugural Program

Brisbane Festival 2026 opened today, launching 23 days of performance, public art and participation across the city under the banner Switch On, Light Up, Come Alive.

Running until Saturday 26 September, Artistic Director Ebony Bott's inaugural program ignites Brisbane's streets, stages and skies in a day-to-night celebration of the city itself. The festival features almost 2,000 artists and over 750 performances – from world premieres and major international productions to an expansive program of free community experiences and a colourful riverside takeover with the pop-up Verso Projects. Festival Village, South Bank.

With more than 70% of the 2026 program completely free to the public, Bott has made accessibility a defining feature of her debut festival. Rather than simply watching from the sidelines, festival-goers are invited to become active participants, with experiences designed to bring people of all ages together in moments of shared wonder, mischief and fun.

Emphasising her vision to connect the community from first light to after dark, Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Ebony Bott said, “Bringing Brisbane Festival home to South Bank feels like opening our arms to the whole city, creating a Village where everyone can find their own kind of magic. But wherever you are in Brisbane, there's something waiting to surprise, delight or connect you. Across theatres, parks, streets and neighbourhoods, Brisbane is at its most creative, most generous and most alive, and we can't wait to share it with you.”

Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said Brisbane Festival was a highlight on Queensland's premier cultural calendar of events and a powerful expression of the state's creative vibrancy.

“Brisbane Festival champions our homegrown arts industry, bringing together more than 1,300 Queensland artists and 59 local arts organisations working alongside leading national and international talent,” Minister Langbroek said. “The Crisafulli Government is proud to support Brisbane Festival which delivers on our 10-year arts and cultural strategy, Queensland's Time to Shine and our commitment to build the state's reputation for transformative arts experiences in the lead up to Brisbane 2032.”

Minister for the Environment and Tourism Andrew Powell MP said Brisbane Festival showcased exactly why Queensland continued to attract visitors from across Australia and the world.

'Brisbane Festival puts our capital city on show, giving visitors every reason to come to Brisbane and experience the energy, culture and excitement of one of Australia's premier events,' Minister Powell said. “Brisbane Festival is the perfect gateway to a Queensland holiday, with visitors able to enjoy the Festival before heading out to explore our world-class regions, from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast to the Reef and Outback.'

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said Brisbane Festival transformed the city into one enormous stage for 23 days each September.

'Brisbane is Australia's lifestyle capital and there is no better time to experience it than when our parks, riversides and public spaces come alive during Brisbane Festival,' Cr Schrinner said. 'More than 70 per cent of the program is free and much of it happens in the suburbs, from Brisbane Serenades in neighbourhood parks to the Moorooka Block Party. We are proud to bring four special festival editions of the Lord Mayor's City Hall Concerts to the lunch hour this September, with live music, silent film and incredible local talent. Brisbane Festival is a great example of how we're creating more to see and do while making Australia's lifestyle capital even better.”

Verso Projects. Festival Village, South Bank

At the heart of this year's program – literally and figuratively – is Verso Projects. Festival Village, South Bank: the festival's riverside playground at South Bank, Cultural Forecourt. Home to tonight's Opening Night celebrations and one of the city's premier Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust viewing locations, the precinct pulses with free and ticketed activity across the festival's 23 days, including the long-awaited return of the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, the nightly river spectacular Bright Nights by ANZ, and the interactive mass-choir installation Giant Sing Along by acclaimed Montreal studio Daily tous les jours.

Operating from first light to after dark, the Verso Projects. Festival Village moves to the rhythm of the world's earliest rising city, opening each day with the weekly Sunrise Ceremony: Bikki Wantima and a rotating program of wellbeing sessions, including DAYBREAKER's alcohol-free morning dance party on Saturday 12 September.

Each evening, the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent is transformed into the home of West End smash The Choir of Man, a raucous, roof-raising celebration of music and community that is already wowing Brisbane audiences since its opening earlier this week. Nearby at South Bank Piazza, Fijian Flying Circus makes its Australian premiere under the big top, bringing a dazzling, high-energy celebration of spirit and culture from Fijian dance tribe VOU. Fusing unbelievable aerial acrobatics, gravity-defying stunts and laugh-out-loud storytelling it's a magical, whole-of-family adventure.

Pre- and post-show, Verso Projects. Festival Village, South Bank will play host to live music, DJs and late night action – including two special performances of Generations and Dynasties, one exploring the legacy of Uncle Graham Brady and Jungaji, and another celebrating the musical lineage of Deline, Naurita and Merindi Briscoe; Opera Queensland's acclaimed convergence of opera and country, Are You Lonesome Tonight; and the shared songs of Piano Man as he celebrates Queensland musical talent with a rotating roster of guest stars.

The precinct also serves as one of the city's premier viewing locations for the festival's opening weekend centrepiece, Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, returning Saturday 5 September. One of Australia's most breathtaking annual events, Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust lights up the Brisbane night sky and unites the city with a shimmering fireworks display launched from bridges, barges and rooftops around town, preceded by a thrilling RAAF flyover.

Program Highlights

Strong is the New Pretty arrives at QPAC as one of the festival's most anticipated world premieres – a co-production between Brisbane Festival, Sydney Theatre Company and Trish Wadley Productions, seeing celebrated playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie, RBG: Of Many, One) turn her talents to the untold story of how the AFLW was born.

Fresh from a critically acclaimed US premiere at New York's St. Ann's Warehouse, Scorched Earth, the bold new work from Luke Murphy's Attic Projects, examines the darkest questions of the Irish psyche inside a stark interrogation room. The visceral, high-octane and genuinely breathtaking, ESCAPE is the latest production from Los Angeles company DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion, turning moving architectural structures into the stage for elite athletic performance across dance, acrobatics, stunt work and circus arts. Also direct from the US is New York puppetry company Wakka Wakka presents Dead as a Dodo, a mesmerising musical odyssey set deep in the underworld.

From New Zealand, a sweeping new adaptation of Witi Ihimaera's epic tale, Woman Far Walking spans 185 years of Aotearoa's history, led by award-winning actors Miriama McDowell and Nī Dekkers-Reihana, while Binge Culture's Werewolf brings a gripping, darkly funny immersive horror-comedy inspired by the classic game of social deduction to the festival. Acclaimed choreographer Tupua Tigafua brings his delightfully mischievous dance work Shel We to Brisbane, a playful homage to Shel Silverstein – best known for children's book The Giving Tree – that has already entranced audiences across New Zealand and Sweden with its deeply felt tribute to family and the ties that bind.

Written by 2024 Scotsman First Fringe Award winner Virginia Gay and directed by Clare Watson, Mama Does Derby brings the sweaty, radical world of roller derby to Brisbane Powerhouse. Told through theatre, live punk band and roller derby's radical spirit, it's a rollicking new work about a single mum and daughter finding their feet in a regional town where neither quite belongs. Meanwhile, Gold Coast company The Farm's No One Gets Out of Here Alive takes on mortality itself, drawing on opera, ballet, dance, voice and music to transform life's big and small endings into a visceral, darkly funny and unexpectedly cathartic communal experience.

Internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Lior joins forces with renowned conductor Kelly Lovelady and the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra for Compassion, a symphony of universal peace and love, while Be the Sky, curated by Professor Vanessa Tomlinson, sees Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal collaborate with Philip Glass in a meditative rendering of the composer's work, with Glass's own pianist travelling from the US to join Tenzin and Conservatorium students on stage.

Night at the Parkland returns, gathering local and international names beneath the stars – Human Nature, Icehouse, The Temper Trap, The Cruel Sea with Magic Dirt, Missy Higgins and PNAU among them. For a change of pace, organist Calvin Bowman takes on The Complete Bach Cycle, working through the composer's entire organ repertoire, from hushed, spiritually charged chorale preludes to virtuosic preludes and fugues, on QPAC's Concert Hall pipe organ.

All Ages Festival Fun

Brisbane Festival 2026 brings a rich mix of performances and hands-on activities designed for young festivalgoers and families alike.

Exclusively at QAGOMA, Make, Believe, Magic: The Worlds of The Jim Henson Company takes visitors on an unmissable journey through the creative magic behind some of the most cherished characters in screen history and the fantastical worlds of The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock. Nearby at QPAC's Cremorne Theatre, Betsy Balloon and the Very Great Terrible Flood brings Bill Manhire's rambunctious modern fable to life in the story of a girl from a balloon-factory island whose world quite literally pops, sending her to a rain-soaked city that is slowly, inexorably sinking.

Across the Verso Projects. Festival Village, South Bank, children can dance along with ABC favourite Dance with Tom, while First Nations storytelling comes to life through acrobatics and movement in Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours. At the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, family favourite The Listies: This Show is a Joke delivers the anarchic, laugh-a-minute chaos the beloved duo are known for.

Throughout the September school holidays there will be plenty more to keep the kids busy, from face-painting and roving performers, to children's disco and The Knock 'Em Downs curious carnival tent. These experiences, along with a full slate of performances, workshops and activities, come together in one vibrant celebration on Sunday 20 September, with a dedicated Family Fun Day, supported by Brisbane Airport, running throughout the Village.

For and By the Community

Brisbane Serenades returns with a vibrant series of free outdoor concerts across the city's parks and neighbourhoods, while the Moorooka Block Party chalks up five years with a stacked lineup of live music, dance and family-friendly activities.

Now in its second season, Community Choir: The Musical is a heartwarming and hilarious tale performed almost entirely by locals, blurring the line between choir and theatre to celebrate collective creativity and everyday voices made extraordinary. Alongside it, Brisbane's most beloved dance battle of the 'burbs, the Common People Dance Eisteddfod, sees seven southeast Queensland teams jazz-sliding, body-rolling and high-kicking their way to glory. The suburban celebration continues across the city with neighborhood favorites like the coastal live music showcase Manly Serenades and the family-friendly St Lucia Block Party on The University of Queensland grounds.

The annual Quandamooka Festival continues as one of the most significant First Nations cultural gatherings in Queensland with a celebration of the living culture, art and stories of the Quandamooka people of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).

Four special Festival-edition Lord Mayor's City Hall Concerts add some extra sparkle to the lunch hour this September: David Bailey's live original score for Buster Keaton's silent classics, the storytelling and rich traditional rhythms of East of West, the UQ Music Gala's showcase of bold local talent, and the Lord Mayor's Children's Program favourite TheatreDome.

Brisbane Festival runs 4 – 26 September 2026.

Tickets to Brisbane Festival performances are on sale now. See the full program, subscribe for updates and purchase tickets at brisbanefestival.com.au.

Brisbane Festival is an initiative of the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council. The Queensland Government supports Brisbane Festival through Arts Queensland and Tourism and Events Queensland.

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