HISTORY

Brisbane Festival was developed by the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council as an initiative to foster the arts. Brisbane Festival operates under the direction of the board of Major Brisbane Festivals Pty Ltd.

Since its inception in 1996, the biennial festival has developed to become one of Australia's most highly respected and acclaimed performing arts festivals. The Artistic Director/CEO for 2006 and 2008 is Lyndon Terracini.

The Festival evolved from the Warana Festival, first held in 1961. Warana (meaning blue skies) was the beginnings of Arts Festivals in Queensland. In these early Festival days, a trip to the Queensland ballet cost 10 shillings, the Grand Parade of floats down the city-streets was a major event and the Festival was a celebration of Spring and the arts. The theme of the Warana Festival was "entertainment for the people, by the people". Over the years regular Warana features varied, but included a drama festival and eisteddfod, a writers' week, a George Street Colonial Fair, a Miss Warana Pageant and various religious, sporting and other outdoors activities.

Brisbane Festival 1996- 2004

Tony Gould was the Artistic Director of the first Brisbane Festival held in 1996. He continued in this role for the 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 Brisbane Festivals.

Brisbane Festival 2006

Brisbane Festival 2006 was an outstanding success and boasted the largest program in the event’s history. Over seventeen days in July, the Festival showcased talent from across the city and around the globe. The program included theatre, dance, opera, circus, music, multimedia, comedy, cabaret, visual art, fringe theatre, conversation, political satire, an extensive program of free community events, as well as Earth Dialogues, a remarkable world forum for resource management, climate change and sustainable development hosted by President Mikhail Gorbachev, Chair of Green Cross International.

Under the direction of Lyndon Terracini, Brisbane Festival in 2006 achieved:

• Attendance of 206,000 across the Festival.
• Media coverage valued in excess of $12 million.
• 578 performances over 17 days and nights.
• Involvement of 3,293 artists, staff and technical crew to deliver the Festival.
• Participation by more than 3,000 community members in workshops and performances.
• Two Brisbane Festival produced major works that also performed highly successful international touring seasons. Winners performed at the Pompidou Centre in Paris and JOHNNO performed to outstanding reviews at the Derby Playhouse in the UK.
• Box office targets that were exceeded by 16.5%.

The festival’s program offered audiences great diversity - from extraordinary in-theatre experiences and spectacular outdoor events to the raw, random and obscure of the inaugural Theatre Fringe and memorable evenings at the glorious Spiegeltent.

For more information on the 2006 program, review Brisbane Festival 2006’s Final Report.