Our hot picks for BrisFest 2024
Spring is in the air and what does that mean for Magandjin / Meeanjin? It’s time for BrisFest! Running from 30 August to 21 September this year, we’re once again spoilt for choice with some epic offerings of theatre, circus, musicals, dance, cabaret, live music, installations and so much more. This is way too much goodness in the program for this year’s festival, so who better to turn to than the writers of NEHIB to let you know what you simply must see at BrisFest this year.
Diverse writers attending diverse offerings at #brisfest23
They are all gathered here for you to check them out, the reviews of Brisbane Festival 2023.
Hello Brisbane Festival, what have we here?
Brisbane Festival is back again in all it’s glory. Editor Nadia Jade has a good look at the program and gives you a rundown of what’s hot, what’s intriguing, what’s unmissable and what’s worth spending the big bucks.
"Anywhere Festival is all about discovering shows, places and people you wouldn't expect, where you wouldn't expect." Paul Osuch on this year's Anywhere Festival
Anywhere Festival is about bringing artists and audiences closer together—and it’s about showing there is a way for artists to create and develop shows without having to rely on the bricks and mortar performing arts complex.
Dominoes & Rum | Nicholas 'Prince' Milverton
The engaging, entertaining and punchy script does lay bare the real truth that migrants grapple with after leaving their country. It is obvious from the plot that reconnecting with one’s roots forms an integral part of identity while belonging to a community of like minded individuals is priceless. It also raises the burning question of cultural assimilation versus acceptance.
Mosaic Multicultural Festival | Multicultural Australia & Brisbane Serenades
These are just some of the many performances featured in the massive action-packed program - there was so much content to discover. The event was so joyous and provided me with numerous insights on how multicultural Brisbane really is and its relevance to celebrate and promote. Not only that, but the audience loved seeing their own culture represented, just like a mini Olympics for the arts.
5 reasons to get your mates together and head to Jungle Love this weekend
Well here at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane we don’t often cross the river - but when we do, we go all the way into the mountains and dance all weekend. That’s right, that gorgeous collective of arts lovers and boho dreamers is gathering for the next instalment of Jungle Love.
West End Film Festival promises a wildly innovative program for 2022
This year’s Festival is hyper local yet national featuring flicks from chilly Melbs to humid Darwin covering content on hot topics, music videos, animation, dramas, youth, other cultures and a wonderfully inspiring, provocative, yet diverse program from our own homegrown 4101 and SEQ filmmakers. Audiences will get to view an amazing talent of multimedia events across West End plus find unexpected popup film events in non-traditional film settings.
Tell us about the first time you saw a circus show….
We love the circus here at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, and it turns out, so do all the circus artists we know! We’re so excited for CIRCFest 22 Meanjin, so we went to all the circus performers and asked them to tell us about the first time they saw a circus show, or glimpsed a clown, or found the magic of the circus stage…
"If you want to get acquainted with the independent art scene in Brisbane, this is a great place to do it" - Angela Peita and Lauren Hale on RuckusFest.
We've always really strongly believed that anybody can make art and in whatever realm, that everyone has an interesting story to tell. This festival is about giving people an opportunity to play with that, but also to meet other people that want to play with. You don't have to be good at it, you can just enjoy it and get involved with it. And the kind of natural outcome of that is you're hanging out with other people who are interested in those things, so you’re making communities.”
Anywhere Festival bringing the art to the people where they live, work and play
Anywhere Festival is a much loved Brisbane institution, which sees artists from all genres and calibres make art literally anywhere but a theatre. This year is their biggest yet, with performances spreading out across Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Ipswich. You can find an original performance in a forest in Maleny, to a nursery in West End, a jetty in Caboolture and a dog park in Noosa, a cross-fit gym in Ipswich, to a waste water treatment plant on the Gold Coast…
Dance festivals in Australia are rare. Contemporary dance festivals are even rarer.
“From the moment a person sees an ad for Supercell through to when they’re travelling home is all a curated experience. It’s not just the performance, but what happens before and after, the food and beverage, who greets them at the door, how they find their way in, their safety, how they’re welcomed.”
"We want our patrons to value live art." - DARKWORLD Festival set to tantalise this weekend
“We want to erase the blurred lines between these individual industries that often operate, and are mostly considered as separate. What’s exciting is the opportunity for demographics to collide under one roof, and new potential friendships to develop across the line-up.”
The first Brisbane Improv Festival: "Those heightened stakes inspire some of the wildest leaps, connections and ideas."
From the 18-21 Feb 2021, you can expect to spend a hilarious long-weekend celebrating all things improvised comedy at the Brisbane Improv Festival. Over the four days there are a range of shows from local and interstate crews, workshops where you can skill up, and even a special family friendly event on the Saturday afternoon.
"The artists should be at the centre" - Anywhere Festival widens it's scope for 2021
No other festival in Brisbane (Queensland? Australia?) is so supportive of indie artists, from facilitating production, to teaching marketing skills, to opening access to unseen corners of our city, to streamlining the festival administration to truly create an equitable access opportunity for independent creators. The end result? A line-up of fresh, innovative, and utterly original works performed by artists from absolute first timers to seasoned stars, presented across the length and breadth of Meanjin, extending up to the Sunny Coast. And we are pleased to find out, that this year the festival will extend into Ipswich and Moreton Bay as we
Three Unmissable Acts at Yonder
Following its successful debut in 2019, Yonder Festival is back for another glorious weekend of art, theatre, music, dance and workshops. This year the line-up is rich with fresh independent acts, grown right here in our own backyard. To help you navigate your way through the program, here are three promising performance picks to point your peepers at.
Wynnum is getting a Fringe Festival. Right. Now.
Lots of artists found themselves at a loose end during lockdown. In spite of the extreme neglect from the powers that be, artists are restless beasts, and there are plenty of inspired projects coming to the foreground. And the fore-shore. Meet Tom, the founder and Artistic Director of Wynnum Fringe.
Yes, the bayside suburb of Wynnum is about to host a beautifully exciting festival, a Fringe Festival no less, with street shows and public concerts and roving performers and buildings turned into venues and a program of over 50 shows.