Winter arts season heats up as Brisbane stages take risks with new commissions

Brisbane’s winter arts calendar is surging into the second half of July with a slate of new commissions and returning festivals that signal a post-pandemic bounce-back for the city’s live performance sector.

Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) reports that advance ticket sales across its five venues are up 18 percent compared to the same period last year, driven largely by bookings for the upcoming premiere of 'Watershed', a new play by local First Nations writer Thomas Weatherall. The production, which opens July 24 on the Cremorne Theatre stage, explores water rights and cultural memory along the Brisbane River, a theme that has resonated strongly with audiences since the city’s catastrophic floods of 2022.

Festival circuit revs up

The Brisbane Festival, which kicks off September 6, has already released its full program, and organisers say more than 40 percent of tickets for headline events have been snapped up. The festival’s opening night spectacle, 'River of Light', will feature drones and barges on the river near the South Bank Cultural Forecourt, with projections mapping the stories of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples onto the Story Bridge. Artistic director Louise Bezzina told media the programming team deliberately chose to foreground Indigenous narrative in the wake of the national debate around the Voice referendum.

On a smaller scale, the Metro Arts theatre in Edward Street is running its annual 'Fresh Blood' season, which pairs emerging directors with established playwrights. Two of the six works in this year’s program, 'Ghost Net' and 'The Crossing', directly address the experience of Pasifika communities in Logan and Ipswich, suburbs that have seen rapid demographic change over the past decade.

Galleries bet on local talent

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) has extended its blockbuster 'Air/Light' exhibition by two weeks after it drew more than 90,000 visitors in its first month. The exhibition, which explores the intersection of photography and climate science, features works by nine Queensland-based artists, including a large-scale installation by Meeanjin-born photographer Michael Cook. The extension runs through August 16.

The Queensland Art Gallery board has also confirmed a new $2.4 million commissioning fund specifically for public art in the suburbs, with the first round of grants opening in October. Projects earmarked for funding include a ceramic mural for the new Woodridge Community Centre and a light installation at Nudgee Beach foreshore.

Independent venues are also punching above their weight. The Princess Theatre in Woolloongabba has sold out its July run of 'The Hotel Cerise', a site-specific performance staged in a former boarding house on Stanley Street. The show, which uses six rooms and the building’s courtyard, allows only 30 audience members per night. Its remaining August dates are expected to sell out within days.

For those on a budget, the 'Pay What You Feel' initiative returns to the Judith Wright Arts Centre in Fortitude Valley for the second half of July. Produced by the independent company Alchemy Theatre, the program offers five short plays with a suggested donation of $15, though patrons can pay as little as $5. Over the June school holidays, the initiative drew audiences of more than 200 per performance.

The winter season closes with the return of the Anywhere Festival, previously cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, which will take over unconventional spaces across greater Brisbane from August 28 to September 15. This year’s program includes a one-man show performed on a CityCat ferry and a dance piece staged in the carpark of the Fortitude Valley train station. Ticketing details go live on July 20.

Arts Queensland confirmed this week that it has processed 87 percent of the grant applications submitted in the latest funding round, with nearly $1.8 million allocated to projects across the city. The department’s director of programs, Meredith Smith, said the strong response reflects a “pent-up hunger” for live performance that is reshaping the local cultural landscape.