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195:, intended to foster the arts. The festival evolved from Brisbane's Warana Festival, first held in 1962 following on from the successful Centenary of Celebrations in 1959. 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.
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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
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Originally held biennially, Brisbane
Festival became an annual event in 2009 when it merged with Riverfire. The festival has had five artistic directors;
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transformed the
Festival into Australia's largest major international arts festival, presenting more works to more people than any other.
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In 2021, the theme for the festival was
Brightly Brisbane. It featured light installations in several locations.
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446:"Brisbane Festival draws heavily on local talent for a celebration of Queensland pride and optimism"
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is one of
Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in
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297:"Brisbane Festival unveils dazzling program packed with revelry, revelation and romance"
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417:"Brisbane Festival: 3D street art captures imaginations at the right angle"
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The 2020 festival was estimated to have generated $ 14 million into the
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Brisbane
Festival was first held in 1996 as a joint initiative of the
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attracts an audience of around one million people every year.
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340:(23 September 2022) by Chrissi Theodsoiou published by the
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369:(1 September 2017) by Lynn Meyers published by the
531:Wonderful Warana: Queensland's Own Spring Festival
367:Wonderful Warana: Queensland's Own Spring Festival
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49:Major arts, theatre, music and cultural festival
524:Blue skies: Brisbane's Warana Festival programs
338:Blue skies: Brisbane's Warana Festival programs
365:This Knowledge article incorporates text from
336:This Knowledge article incorporates text from
210:(2015–2019) and Louise Bezzina (2020–2025).
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206:(2006–2009), Noel Staunton (2010–2014),
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105:30 August – 21 September 2024
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277:from the original on 23 September 2015
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415:Woodward, Jenny (16 September 2016).
564:Recurring events established in 1996
444:Gramenz, Emilie (3 September 2021).
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183:Brisbane Festival Mirror Ball, 2012
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313:from the original on 10 April 2020
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569:1996 establishments in Australia
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471:Seselja, Edwina (28 July 2020).
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351:, accessed on 17 January 2023.
526:, State Library of Queensland.
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271:"History of Brisbane Festival"
250:List of festivals in Australia
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533:, State Library of Queensland
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245:List of festivals in Brisbane
273:. Major Brisbane Festivals.
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213:The 2016 event featured 3D
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117:Organised by
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21:‹ The
543:Categories
483:24 October
479:. ABC News
477:abc.net.au
456:24 October
452:. ABC News
450:abc.net.au
426:24 October
391:"About us"
256:References
215:street art
200:Tony Gould
71:Queensland
400:1 October
281:6 January
162:Riverfire
155:Australia
81:Australia
55:Frequency
30:is being
421:ABC News
317:10 April
308:Archived
275:Archived
239:See also
151:Brisbane
67:Brisbane
34:. ›
23:template
529:Blog –
522:Blog –
378:licence
349:licence
175:History
129:Website
107: (
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77:Country
373:under
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58:Annual
375:CC BY
346:CC BY
311:(PDF)
300:(PDF)
45:Genre
485:2021
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402:2020
319:2020
283:2015
191:and
136:.com
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138:.au
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.