“Welcome to Brisbane Festival 2025” – Louise Bezzina, Artistic Director

When I began creating this year’s Brisbane Festival, I hadn’t intended it to be my last. As with every festival I have had the privilege to direct alongside our team, I set out to create something unforgettable, filled with defining moments that linger in our hearts and minds. Now, as I present my sixth and final Brisbane Festival, I am more determined than ever to bring this city to life through art, joy, and fearless creativity. 

My passion for being Boldly Brisbane has always been my guiding light. From navigating the challenges of the COVID years to introducing ambitious initiatives such as Street Serenades and The Art Boat, Brisbane itself has been my muse — a city reimagined as a stage, alive with possibility. 

As I look back on this extraordinary chapter, I do so with immense pride and deep emotion. These years have been marked by bold ambition, creative risk-taking, and a profound love for this festival and its community. It has been an honour to co-lead this remarkable organisation with my dear friend Charlie Cush, supported by an exceptional Board led by Chair Anna Reynolds and Deputy Chair Philip Bacon AO. With the cultural wisdom of our Indigenous Advisory Group, the generosity of our Giving Committee, and the boundless energy of our festival team, we have dared to dream big — and together, turned the impossible into reality. 

We have seen exponential growth, forged deeper connections with our audiences, and redefined what it means to be Boldly Brisbane. 

The 2025 Festival positions Brisbane not just as a host city, but as the stage itself. We transform theatres, parks, streets, rooftops — and everything in between — into vibrant arenas where art meets place, and audiences are invited into moments that are bright and electric, raw and revelatory. 

Local creative giants Craig & Karl will transform three of the city’s key bridges with ANZ’s Walk This Way, a kaleidoscopic installation celebrating our river city. Stephen Page’s monumental Baleen Moondjan will illuminate the river with an awe-inspiring performance set in an installation of whale bones created by Jacob Nash, as night falls and magic rises. 

Last year, we bridged Brisbane and Paris — two Olympic and Paralympic host cities. This year, we connect with Los Angeles, our sister city on the global stage. We welcome L.A. Dance Project, led by ballet icon Benjamin Millepied, who brings his exquisite work Gems to Brisbane in an Australian exclusive.

At the Twelfth Night Theatre, we’ll throw a party to remember with GATSBY at the Green Light, breathing new life into a beloved Brisbane stage. 

Our commitment to local luminaries will shine again. We celebrate the power and grace of three of Australia’s finest female choreographers — Marilyn Miller, Katina Olsen, and Jasmin Sheppard — with Preparing Ground. Shake & Stir return with The Lovers, a pop-infused, high-voltage take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Australasian Dance Collective brings us Bad Nature, an ambitious international collaboration with the Netherlands’ Club Guy & Roni (CGR) including multidisciplinary artists Boris Acket, Maison the Faux, and HIIIT. And we welcome back Queensland’s own William Yang, performing Milestone with the incomparable Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra. 

We celebrate artists who break rules and expectations. In BATSHIT, Leah Shelton and co-creator Ursula Martinez deliver a razor-sharp, genre-defying work that is as darkly funny as it is disarmingly personal. With Elements of Freestyle, the Netherlands' ISH Dance Collective hurtles into Brisbane Powerhouse with mind-blowing urban expression — from BMX to breakdance — an adrenaline rush of movement and music that will have audiences on the edge of their seats.

The city's biggest party, Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, will once again bring us together in a dazzling display of fireworks, colour, and community. And on the final weekend, we look to the sky with the return of Skylore — Nieergoo: Spirit of the Whale — a spellbinding tale told with 500 drones dancing in the night sky.

At Brisbane Festival HQ, we are preparing one mighty hurrah — an epic celebration filled with love, bravery, and passion. A program that marks the close of this beautiful chapter and opens the door to a bold new future for Brisbane Festival. 

To our government shareholders, with a personal thanks to the Arts Minister through Arts Queensland and the Lord Mayor and Brisbane City Council, to our corporate partners and treasured donors — thank you. Your faith and support have been the bedrock of our success. 

And to the artists: you are the soul of this festival. Without you, none of this exists.

Here’s to Brisbane Festival — what a magnificent creature you are. 

– Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Louise Bezzina