BEMAC Season 2024 - Creative Confluence

BEMAC, Queensland's most dynamic producer of multicultural arts, has announced an exciting new season of work kicking off on Saturday, March 9, 2024.

Under the banner of 'Creative Confluence', BEMAC's 2024 program includes 13 events that span music, dance, poetry and, for the first time, theatre, and is underpinned by three core principles - courageous in creativity, determined in diversity, and enablers of change. Here are some of the highlights:

Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra and Zy the Way, Mar 24 

Experience a double-bill with 22-piece, award-winning Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra alongside a rare touring visit from Taiwan’s 6-piece jazz group Zy The Way. 

Hailed “one of the freshest feeling projects in Australian music right now”, two-time Queensland Music Award-winner Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra is underpinned by inclusivity, gender diversity and community-mindedness. 

Zy The Way is a jazz ensemble ushering in a fresh musical movement from the heart of Asia, melding jazz with the profound cultural traditions of ancient Chinese poetry. This sublimely unique collaboration is a must-see for all music enthusiasts.

JADE Ensemble and ZÖJ, May 4 

Two distinctive music-making processes collide in an emotionally stirring double bill of virtuosic cross-cultural music exploration. Local luminaries JADE Ensemble share a night of deep cultural meeting points with Victoria-based experimental music duo ZÖJ; both groups united by the commitment to explore and intertwine the sounds and personal narratives of the multiple identities that converge within them. 

The First Creatives – Ya’Djin Spirit Women, May 18

A multidisciplinary, intergenerational cast of First Nations’ women share stories of colonial violence, dispossession, abuse, motherhood, blak joy, connection, country and healing for The First Creatives first full-length production. 

Woven together with song, dance and video, this stirring storytelling performance features The First Creatives founders, dancers Allirah and Maddy Fisher, and guest performances by Githabul, Migunberri- Yugumbeh poet and musician Alinta McGrady “BADASSMUTHA”, Kabi Kabi, Koa and Kuku Yalanji elder Aunty Sharyn Malone, Gooreng Gooreng, Kabi Kabi elder Aunty Chantay Link and more. 

BEMAC is a valued partner of Must Do Brisbane.com