Latest news with #BrisbaneFestival
Sydney Morning Herald
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Brisbane news live: Thousands to miss out on LNP's homebuyer help; Snow in Queensland? Maybe; Crisafulli reveals cabinet made call to end transgender care
7.07am While you were sleeping Here's what's making news further afield this morning: US President Donald Trump has acknowledged sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 'stole' young women from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, including American-Australian victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide this year. Britain has heightened pressure on Israel to commit to a ceasefire in Gaza and help feed starving civilians, declaring it will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes urgent steps towards peace. A gunman who shot dead four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself was trying to target the headquarters of the National Football League but took the wrong elevator, Mayor Eric Adams said. YouTube Kids will escape the federal government's teen social media ban that could serve as a model for other sites to keep offering their products, and ads, to children under the age of 16. Labor MPs are pushing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to go big on the government's next climate target as leading economist professor Ross Garnaut called for a resurrection of the carbon tax to kickstart Australia's ailing green-energy transition. 7.03am Good morning, and welcome to Brisbane Times' live news coverage for Wednesday, July 30. Today we can expect a partly cloudy day with a top temperature of 24 degrees. In this morning's local headlines: Queensland students have received a , however the state fell behind on several other metrics. Queensland police and the Crisafulli government have reached an in-principle pay deal that the nurses' union has labelled 'outrageous', comparing it to the way their predominantly female profession has been treated. Thousands of Queensland state school teachers will walk off the job for the entire day next Wednesday as pay negotiations with the state government heat up. Brisbane has poached a major figure in Australian cultural institutions to take the reins of Brisbane Festival as artistic director. Premier David Crisafulli has conceded January's decision to pause new gender-affirming care for young people in the public health system was a decision of his cabinet, rather than Queensland Health's director-general. With a fair chance of snowfalls this weekend, the Granite Belt is preparing for an influx of visitors keen to witness a winter wonderland.
The Age
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Age
Brisbane news live: Thousands to miss out on LNP's homebuyer help; Snow in Queensland? Maybe; Crisafulli reveals cabinet made call to end transgender care
7.07am While you were sleeping Here's what's making news further afield this morning: US President Donald Trump has acknowledged sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 'stole' young women from the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, including American-Australian victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide this year. Britain has heightened pressure on Israel to commit to a ceasefire in Gaza and help feed starving civilians, declaring it will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes urgent steps towards peace. A gunman who shot dead four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself was trying to target the headquarters of the National Football League but took the wrong elevator, Mayor Eric Adams said. YouTube Kids will escape the federal government's teen social media ban that could serve as a model for other sites to keep offering their products, and ads, to children under the age of 16. Labor MPs are pushing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to go big on the government's next climate target as leading economist professor Ross Garnaut called for a resurrection of the carbon tax to kickstart Australia's ailing green-energy transition. 7.03am Good morning, and welcome to Brisbane Times' live news coverage for Wednesday, July 30. Today we can expect a partly cloudy day with a top temperature of 24 degrees. In this morning's local headlines: Queensland students have received a , however the state fell behind on several other metrics. Queensland police and the Crisafulli government have reached an in-principle pay deal that the nurses' union has labelled 'outrageous', comparing it to the way their predominantly female profession has been treated. Thousands of Queensland state school teachers will walk off the job for the entire day next Wednesday as pay negotiations with the state government heat up. Brisbane has poached a major figure in Australian cultural institutions to take the reins of Brisbane Festival as artistic director. Premier David Crisafulli has conceded January's decision to pause new gender-affirming care for young people in the public health system was a decision of his cabinet, rather than Queensland Health's director-general. With a fair chance of snowfalls this weekend, the Granite Belt is preparing for an influx of visitors keen to witness a winter wonderland.
Sydney Morning Herald
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Brisbane poaches arts visionary to shape festival's future
Brisbane Festival has appointed Ebony Bott as its new artistic director, replacing the outgoing Louise Bezzina. Bott has worked for two decades at major cultural institutions including Adelaide Festival Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne, and comes to the Brisbane Festival from her current role as head of contemporary performance at the Sydney Opera House. There she programmed major productions including Amadeus starring Michael Sheen, hip-hop dance phenomenon Message in a Bottle, set to the music of Sting, and the Netflix-filmed world premiere of Hannah Gadsby's Body of Work. The sixth artistic director in the festival's history, Bott said she was drawn to the 'civic ritual' of Brisbane Festival. 'It has a pulse that's distinctly local, and a platform that resonates far beyond. Loading 'For me, the most powerful festivals grow from the identity of their city, not simply land upon it.' Brisbane Festival chair Anna Reynolds said Bott was unafraid to ask big questions. 'She understands the moment Brisbane is in – a city on the cusp of positioning itself on the global stage – and brings both the boldness and the rigour to shape a festival that speaks to this.'
The Age
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Brisbane poaches arts visionary to shape festival's future
Brisbane Festival has appointed Ebony Bott as its new artistic director, replacing the outgoing Louise Bezzina. Bott has worked for two decades at major cultural institutions including Adelaide Festival Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne, and comes to the Brisbane Festival from her current role as head of contemporary performance at the Sydney Opera House. There she programmed major productions including Amadeus starring Michael Sheen, hip-hop dance phenomenon Message in a Bottle, set to the music of Sting, and the Netflix-filmed world premiere of Hannah Gadsby's Body of Work. The sixth artistic director in the festival's history, Bott said she was drawn to the 'civic ritual' of Brisbane Festival. 'It has a pulse that's distinctly local, and a platform that resonates far beyond. Loading 'For me, the most powerful festivals grow from the identity of their city, not simply land upon it.' Brisbane Festival chair Anna Reynolds said Bott was unafraid to ask big questions. 'She understands the moment Brisbane is in – a city on the cusp of positioning itself on the global stage – and brings both the boldness and the rigour to shape a festival that speaks to this.'
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Apocalyptic comedy recreates Brisbane landmarks, and destroys them
Begun by Morton and Nicholas Paine in 2009, Dead Puppet Society has an international reputation for exquisite, machine-like puppets in theatrical productions. Their creations have ranged from robotic pelicans in Storm Boy and Galapagos tortoises in The Wider Earth to a huge bear for Brisbane Festival production Holding Achilles. We All Gonna Die! began when Dead Puppet Society put an open call out to playwrights to submit ideas. 'Our stories usually have a social or ecological justice message, and so we put that out as a parameter,' Morton says. Playwright and journalist Maddie Nixon (Cooladdi, Food Fight) answered the call. Loading 'Maddie wrote this pitch about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch becoming sentient and attacking Brisbane, and we were like, obviously we have to do this.' La Boite came on board to produce the show as part of its 2025 100th-anniversary season. Dean Hanson from Ball Park Music has composed and curated the music, with classic Brisbane songs by the Saints, Powderfinger and the Veronicas, and Morton is designing and co-directing the show with La Boite artistic director Courtney Stewart. 'We studied together [at QUT], and actually lived together for 18 months of our degree,' Morton says. 'We have a similar sensibility and approach, it's an awesome partnership.' A cast of five portrays more than 30 different characters between them. The city's skyline appears on automated tracks complete with LED lights. Shadow puppetry is deployed, flying creatures zoom around the stage, and the sea monster is a six-metre inflatable. With so many technical challenges to solve, problems inevitably arise.
