When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Louise Bezzina (B Contemporary and Applied Theatre ’04) had just begun her tenure at Brisbane Festival. Undaunted, she didn’t cancel it. Instead, she radically reimagined it as Street Serenades, an ambitious project that brought live music into all 190 suburbs of Brisbane/Meanjin.
The concerts were unannounced. Musicians would simply roll into local neighbourhoods and begin to play. “Once the music started, people would just come and gather in the park,” Louise remembers. “It was remarkable.”
Whether it’s to sing, move, protest, mourn or celebrate, gathering is more than a pastime, it’s a powerful social instinct. And in Brisbane/Meanjin – a city that has emerged in recent years as one of Australia’s most vibrant cultural hubs – this collective energy is palpable.
At its heart are artists, organisers and thinkers – many of them Griffith alumni. They are working to shape gatherings that are more meaningful, inclusive and transformative than ever before.
“From the beginning of time, we’ve come together as human beings,” says Louise. “That connection is fundamental to us. I think it’s an essential part of our lives.”
Only connect
That same impulse – to connect and belong – drives Tim Munro (M Music ’05), a triple Grammy-winning flautist and Associate Professor of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. “Being able to be in rooms with other musicians – that energy, that joy – it’s like a drug. It’s so addictive. It’s beautiful,” he says. “And that’s a feeling that really connects with audiences.”
At the Conservatorium, Munro brings this ethos into his teaching. “We tell our students: look to your left and look to your right. That is your community from now on,” he says. “These are the people who will shape the next generation of Australian music.”
Munro’s work often centres on participatory and immersive performance. “There’s a part of me which is always asking: how can music bring us together as humans without everyone having to be professional musicians or part of a choir?” he says.
The result is extraordinary events like Crowd Out, a community choir project he directed in Chicago, which saw 1,000 people with untrained voices from 46 of the city’s 50 wards coming together in song.
All together now
Approaches like this don’t just work in music – they’ve proved successful in community sports events, too. Professor Simone Fullagar, chair of the Sport and Gender Equity (SAGE) research hub at Griffith University, is an interdisciplinary sociologist whose research focuses on gender equity in sport. When she researched parkrun in the UK, she found that, despite being free and open to all, its exaggerated focus on fitness alienated some members of the community.
By working with parkrun volunteer organisers to rethink how they presented their events – such as posting more diverse images online and sharing inclusive participant stories – Fullagar and her team helped parkrun groups reach more people.
“We need to think about the inequalities in our society when we are reaching out to communities, so that everybody feels welcome,” she says. “The way in which we actually create events and festivals needs to have diversity and inclusion at the heart of it.”
Comfort and joy
It’s important that as many people as possible get the chance to come together. In a world increasingly mediated by screens and shaped by anxiety, shared experiences offer something rare: joy, presence and the possibility of change, says Bezzina.
“People want hope, connection and a sense of escapism. That’s not to say they aren’t interested in being provoked or having difficult conversations. But I think that, right now, audiences want to spend their money on something that’s going to be great.”
Her festival programs reflect this – with dazzling outdoor spectacles like Skylore, a First Nations-led drone show that first lit up the Brisbane/Meanjin night sky in 2023.
“You see communities from across the city gathered on the riverbanks, looking up to the sky and listening to stories from Traditional Custodians,” she says. “It’s truly special.”
Whether you’re staring up at the sky on South Bank, taking part in a parkrun or chilling out in a park at a music festival, you’re not just doing an activity – you’re actively improving your mental health, too. “We’re in a time where mental health issues are huge and loneliness is increasing,” says Fullagar. “But with events like parkrun, you can just turn up when you want. It’s low-pressure social engagement. It helps people feel safer. It builds confidence. It builds belonging.”
And Munro can relate to that – as can anyone who’s ever felt the joy of gathering. “For me, that aspect of music has always been so central,” he says. “It was in flute ensembles, choirs, orchestras, bands and community spaces where I felt that love. It didn’t come from me, on my own. It came from being with other people.”
Come together with friends old and new at the grand finale of our 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday 26 October at Brisbane South (Nathan), on the land of the Yugarabul, Yuggera, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. We’ve put together a packed program of talks, speaker panels, food, music, theatre, art, sustainability stalls, historic displays, live reptiles, giveaways, discussions and free popcorn – and we can’t wait to see you there. Book your ticket now.
Image captions (top to bottom):
- Louise Bezzina.
- Tom Munro's Crowd Out in Chicago.
- Professor Simone Fullagar.
- Skylore in Brisbane.
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