Powerful celebration of our oldest living culture
This year’s Brisbane Festival offers up a powerful line-up of shows that highlight the stories, traditions and contemporary expressions of First Nations’ artists.
First Nations stories remain at the heart of the Brisbane Festival program, with a range of shows this year celebrating the contribution of the oldest living culture on Earth.
From sunrise ceremonies through to evening storytelling on the banks of the Brisbane River/Maiwar, through to contemporary dance performances paying tribute to musical legacies and theatrical productions from emerging artists, the program is brimming with Indigenous artists and artistry.
A collaboration between Yugambeh Aboriginal Dancers and ARC Circus, free show Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours is a contemporary fusion of Indigenous dance, storytelling and circus, showing from September 5 to 9.
Luther Cora has performed with the Yugambeh Dancers for 27 years and says this show is one of the most exciting productions he’s been involved with. He has watched it evolve over four years.
“Dancing’s a huge part of our life and culture,” Cora says. “It is a modern contemporary interpretation of a traditional story from the Bunjalung and Yugambeh area, which is like Gold Coast and Tweed Heads. It’s really good that it’s free because it’s such a beautiful story about creation of the birds, and a great message that everyone needs to hear.”
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Cora has performed with Yugambeh dancers as far afield as France and Malaysia, but says bringing their message to a home crowd is particularly special.
“I love this collaboration because it’s with ARC Circus and everybody loves to see the beautiful tricks that they do, the acrobats and gymnasts that we have. It’s just a really beautiful way of telling the story.” he says. “I love to see any Indigenous culture being offered to all Australians and the world. It really needs to be showcased and seen by as many people as possible.”
The First Nations program also features two separate performances of Generations and Dynasties, which will honour The Briscoe Sisters and The Brady Family, celebrating through song their contribution to Australian culture and how their inspiration has flowed through generations.
At the Judith Wright Arts Centre in Fortitude Valley, during the festival the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts will present a community showcase of emerging artists.
Under the umbrella of Brisbane Festival, the Quandamooka Festival on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island (September 12-13) will deliver a greater focus to Country at its new home, the QUAMPI Arts and Culture Centre at Dunwich.
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The celebration will include the Kunjiel/Corroboree, a visual arts exhibition featuring work by Kyra Manktelow at QUAMPI Gallery, along with curated arts trails, weaving workshops and musical performances – for a truly place-based cultural experience.
Children and families will be catered for at the festival village at South Bank, with Dance With Tom.
Brisbane Festival artistic director Ebony Bott says it was vital to her that First Nations storytelling be embedded across the program.
“This year’s festival is an open invitation for everyone to connect, listen and celebrate,” Bott says. “The 2026 program celebrates the world’s oldest continuing living cultures as dynamic, diverse and ever-evolving, shaped by artists sharing stories of Country, family, identity and contemporary life.
“Each Friday morning, Sunrise Ceremony: Bikki Wantimaa acknowledges and gives thanks to the lands on which the festival takes place, honouring the First Peoples who have witnessed the sunrise here for tens of thousands of years.
“From the breathtaking fusion of dance and circus in Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours to the place-based storytelling of Quandamooka Festival on Minjerribah and the intimate, multi- generational music of our Generations and Dynasties series with the Briscoe Sisters and the Brady family, these works invite audiences to experience the breadth, vitality and artistry of First Nations storytelling today.”
Brisbane Festival runs September 4-26.
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