Brisbane Festival

[1] Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, theatre, dance, comedy, opera, circus and major public events such as Riverfire attracts an audience of around one million people every year.

[3] The Warana Festival was an annual Spring extravaganza which included a 2 hour parade through the city streets featuring decorated floats, marching girls, entertainers, and bands, under the blue Brisbane skies.

Warana, which is an Aboriginal word for "blue skies", endured until the early 1990s and was eventually transformed into the more sophisticated Brisbane Festival of today.

[4] Originally held biennially, Brisbane Festival became an annual event in 2009 when it merged with Riverfire.

The festival has had five artistic directors; Tony Gould (1996–2004), Lyndon Terracini (2006–2009), Noel Staunton (2010–2014), David Berthold (2015–2019) and Louise Bezzina (2020–2025).