Overview
Timed around Lunar New Year, the annual BrisAsia Festival turns the city into a three-week-long party, celebrating the city's ties with Asia and the many cultures that have originated from the continent. Every year, the event serves up buffet of things to eat, sip, see and do around the River City — and if you like dumplings and tea, plus dragon dances and Asian pop, it's time to get excited about 2024's just-dropped lineup.
Everyone that lives in the Queensland capital has heard all about Brisbane's connections northwards; we're the home of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art and we've also hosted the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, after all. Since 2013, the BrisAsia Festival has been on that list of connections as well, with next year's program spanning 20-plus events in 14 suburbs around the city.
Mark Thursday, February 1–Sunday, February 18 in your diary, then make plans to hit up returning favourites and new festivities alike. Fish Lane will be the site of two huge additions to the event, hosting Asian street festival Lush to help kick off BrisAsia 2024, then also becoming the home of the Southside Dumpling Festival.
The first is free to attend, and will showcase everything from Asian cuisine to street art. The second pushes restaurant Southside to the fore, with Sous Chef Benny Lam taking attendees on a tour of delicious dumplings and dim sums. Pop-up kitchens will also be part of the fest, which is slinging tickets for $22, as will live performances.
Elsewhere, the city's tea festival is back again, with BrisAsia ParTEA moving to Chinatown with its sips. On offer: tastings of hot and cold cuppas, bubble teas as well, craft workshops and tunes. And, the Southside by Night event that combines street food with a car meet (yes, think Fast and Furious vibes) is also returning, taking place in Willawong. BrisAsia's big summer party keeps its spot on the lineup, too, this time popping up at the Thomas Dixon Centre in West End.
You can also start looking forward to Awakening, a live concert at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. Indigenous artist and musician Glenn Barry will be joined by sound healer and Crystal Armonica artist Chiho Kagawa, plus Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal — and the imagery displaying on the Mt Coot-tha venue's Cosmic Skydome.
BrisAsia Dance will see street dance events take over Vent Space in South Brisbane and the Queen Street Mall's main stage, while an interactive workshop series for kids will spread the fun to BrisAsia attendees of all ages.
"It's such a privilege to curate one of the most innovative and diverse festivals in Australia with an exciting program of events that brings elements of traditional and contemporary Asian culture together in an inspirational way," said BrisAsia Festival Executive Producer Dr Anthony Garcia, announcing the 2024 program.
"The festival is brought to life by more than 500 artists, producers and creatives whose work allows us to celebrate life and art in a way that brings people from all walks of life together, offering artists opportunities to experiment, collaborate and evolve their practice whilst giving audiences the chance to experience world-class entertainment."
BrisAsia 2024 runs from Thursday, February 1–Sunday, February 18. For further details, head to the Brisbane City Council website.