Is the Brisbane Festival only for the elites?
We need a big government-funded community festival, too. With a parade!
The Brisbane Festival has just been launched and you can check out the program here.
It certainly is an impressive line-up — and I can see a lot of things in it that I know I would enjoy. But does it have, or could it ever have, something for everyone? Is it a festival for all of Brisbane?
Before I make the case for No, let me wind back a little.
Many years ago, I ran into a friend at QPAC who was attending his very first professional theatre performance at the age of 50, give or take. The show was We Will Rock You, the musical Ben Elton built around Queen’s greatest hits. My friend was there because he’s a Queen fan. Did he like the show? I think so. Has he been back to the theatre since? I think not.
Browsing this year’s Brisbane Festival program, I see little that would be of interest to that friend. In fact, for many (and still not all) Brisbane people, the only thing with any appeal is the Riverfire fireworks event, which we’d have with or without the festival.
Now, do not get me wrong. The Brisbane Festival is a good thing. It’s just not for everyone — and there’s a strong argument that it need not be. Not everybody does, nor arguably should, benefit from every government-funded initiative.
Except that the thing it replaced, and whose funding it swallowed up — Warana — was aimed at a much broader audience, and largely free. And it was a participatory event, where school bands and sports clubs and service organisations got to strut their stuff in a parade down Queen Street no less.
The nearest I can find in the Brisbane Festival program is a free party in the park, where you can play a kazoo. It’ll probably be fun, but it’s event to attend, not something you help create and truly be a part of.
Warana got punted because it was amateur and cheesy and random and, let’s face it, plebeian. And it took up a chunk of money that could otherwise be spent on bringing to Brisbane the kind of high-art events that would never get here on their own because they would not be commercial successful.
The Festival has changed its focus in recent years and it spends less on foreign orchestras, theatre and dance companies, and more on local artists. Again, that’s a very good thing.
But, arguably, it’s still elitist.
When it was set up, the Brisbane Festival was an excellent idea. It was and is a world-class event for, dare I say it, a world-class city. But it came at the cost of a thing that many Brisbane people, including some of those in the arts community, knew and loved.
My argument is that there’s a place for both, and yet we have just the one. Even artsy-fartsy Melbourne still has Moomba.
So, while the Brisbane Festival program is rich and diverse and has a lot of things for a lot of people, there remains the impression that it is an event that appeals primarily to, and exclusively employs, one niche of our society rather than the community as a whole. It does not feel inclusive.
Except, maybe, for the fireworks.
Am I right or am I wrong? Let me know in the comments or on the socials (now including Threads).
UPLIFTING ART
In recognition of NAIDOC Week, the office block at 215 Adelaide Street in the City features Indigenous artworks on its elevator doors. Here are two of the brilliant pieces:
NUMBERS GAME
Numbeo has released its mid-year Cost of Living index for global cities, and it makes for interesting — and, in parts, intriguing — reading. On the list of most expensive (Hamilton, Bermuda) to least (Karachi, Pakistan), Brisbane ranks 36th. That’s behind Canberra (16th) and Adelaide (17th), but ahead of Sydney (41st), Perth (43rd) and Melbourne (53rd). When rent is included in the mix, Brisbane blows out to 49th, behind Sydney (27th), Canberra (31st) and Adelaide (44th) but still more expensive than Perth (53rd) and Melbourne (54th). The Gold Coast is 173rd on the main list and 117th on the rent-added list.
Do you think they’ve got their numbers right?
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