Backbone Youth Arts proudly presents Backbone Festival 2025: LOOK UP – a vibrant celebration of young voices, bold ideas, and untamed creativity.
Running from October 9 to 25, Backbone Festival: LOOK UP presents new works that challenge expectations and create space for mess, resistance, joy, and imagination. The kind of art that interrupts the scroll, asks hard questions, and refuses to wrap things up neatly. The 30-year-old tradition began as the 2high festival – a one-of-a-kind project that paired emerging talent with industry mentors. It has evolved, stretched, and been flipped on its head as each generation of Young Artists transforms it into something completely their own.
Across 17 events, the Seven Hills Hub will come alive with performance, sound, visual art, and interactive experiences created by some of the most exciting emerging artists in Magandjin: Ada Lukin (Pramkicker, Queensland Theatre), Beetle Miyela (The Return), Bella Gregory (Stir The Pot, Collective Circus), Darcie Boatswain (Glitter Martini), Jazz Zhao (Scenes From a Yellow Peril, QPAC/Queensland Theatre), Kelsey Dell, Nathaniel Crossinggum (Assembly+, La Boite), Tainika Kane-Potaka, Xanthe Jones (Brisbane Immersive), and more!
This October, look up – from the ground, from the scroll, from the noise – and look toward what the next generation of art-makers has to offer.
“When you think of ‘youth arts,’ you may just be inclined to draw on ideas of students who are learning their craft—experimenting with ideas in front of friends and family and possibly performing in a drafty shed, and with limited resources. Think again. Backbone Youth Arts’ Festival challenges each of those narratives… “
– Catherine Lawrence, Nothing Ever Happens In Brisbane
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Family Fun Day: A Saturday of workshops, performances, and creative play for all ages – a big, bright celebration for the whole community.
- Digi Youth Arts Takeover: A day of powerful First Nations-led programming, including performance, storytelling, and workshops from rising Blak artists, brought to you by Digi Youth Arts.
- The Hub Comes Alive: Food trucks, a festival bar, and affordable day passes make Seven Hills Hub the place to be this October.
Backbone Festival: LOOK UP is a space for joy, resistance, and imagination – art that interrupts the scroll, invites the mess, and looks boldly toward the future.
🎟️ Full program + tickets: www.backbone.org.au/backbone-festival-2025
For more information click here
