The first rays of dawn will greet drummers on the banks of the Brisbane River as the city stirs to life with yoga on the grass and open-air poetry—just one rhythm in the 23-day symphony of Brisbane Festival 2026. Under the bold new vision of Artistic Director Ebony Bott, the festival pulses to the heartbeat of the city itself, launching her inaugural program under the theme Switch On, Light Up, Come Alive from 4 to 26 September. More than just an arts event, this is Brisbane reimagined as a 24-hour cultural organism, where sunrise ceremonies flow into midnight performances and the entire city becomes a stage.
Brisbane Festival has long anchored the city’s cultural identity, but Bott’s debut curation amplifies its reach and inclusivity like never before. It’s the only major Australian arts festival to span every hour of the day, welcoming audiences of all ages with expansive free and low-cost programming across parks, riverbanks, theatres, and the vibrant Festival Village at South Bank. From local Queensland voices to globally acclaimed acts, the program bridges continents while staying rooted in community, reaffirming Brisbane’s place among the leading cultural destinations in the Asia-Pacific.
At the heart of the season is the world premiere of Strong is the New Pretty, a powerful new play by Suzie Miller—the visionary behind Prima Facie—that uncovers the untold origins of the AFLW. Co-produced with Sydney Theatre Company and Trish Wadley Productions, it opens at QPAC as one of the festival’s most anticipated events. International highlights include DIAVOLO’s ESCAPE, a jaw-dropping fusion of dance, acrobatics, and architectural spectacle from Los Angeles, and Luke Murphy’s Scorched Earth, fresh from its acclaimed run at New York’s St. Ann’s Warehouse, which interrogates land, legacy, and belonging through the lens of an unsolved Irish murder. Families will be enchanted by Wakka Wakka’s Dead as Dodo, a puppet-led musical odyssey of transformation, while Gold Coast’s The Farm returns with No One Gets Out of Here Alive, a darkly comic meditation on mortality that turns grief into collective release. Under the big top at South Bank, VOU’s Fijian Flying Circus makes its Australian premiere—a high-octane celebration of Fijian culture, dance, and joy that soars with energy and pride.
The festival ignites spectacularly on 5 September with Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, when fireworks explode from bridges, barges, and rooftops in one of Australia’s most iconic night-time displays, preceded by a roaring RAAF flyover. But the true magic lies in how this festival belongs to everyone—whether you’re catching a sunrise performance or dancing under the stars.
As Bott puts it: this is a festival shaped not just by artists, but by the city’s own energy and possibility. And with a program this alive, Brisbane isn’t just watching the future of art—it’s creating it.