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In another blow to the arts in Queensland, Brisbane Street Art Festival has cancelled its event for 2026 and will instead focus on returning in 2027.
“A free, large-scale public art festival of BSAF’s scope depends on meaningful investment from government and partners,” the festival organisers said in a statement.
“That investment did not come together for 2026.”
The May festival, which brings muralists to town to create art on public and private walls, has been running since 2016.
In that time more than 400 works of public art have been made across Brisbane by artists such as Rachael Sarra, Fintan Magee, Sofles, Guido van Helten, Adnate, Said Dokins and Sortwo.
Co-director Lincoln Savage said the festival operated on a “patchwork of funding” and its cancellation was not the fault of any one government body or corporate sponsor.
“We have given it everything we’ve got, we’ve written to everyone and spoken to everyone, and they all have their own reasons,” he said.
“QUT, for example, has challenges with enrolment after COVID. Council has its own budgetary issues. State government has limited funding for the arts, and a lot of competition from other very worthy arts organisations.
“We don’t sell tickets, so we have no other revenue stream apart from government funding and corporate sponsorship support. So when that dries up, we don’t have anything left to get across the line.”
Savage said the BSAF was unusual in that it delivered lasting benefits to the city in the form of murals.
Brisbane City Council supported the festival for its first nine years but rescinded funding in 2025. The festival went ahead last year in a reduced form for its 10th anniversary.
“I’d love to sit down with the mayor and go, ‘OK, what’s possible? What can we do?’” Savage said.
State government funding through Arts Queensland had been “sporadic”.
“We’ve been very grateful to receive [it] over the years,” he said.
The festival’s statement said the cancellation was “a pause, not a full stop”.
“We are forming a 2027 steering group, bringing together artists, cultural leaders and community advocates, to build the foundations for BSAF’s return.”
The announcement prompted an outpouring of support on social media.
“Sad news, but unfortunately a trend we see everywhere,” commented global community site Street Art Cities. “With budgets being tightened because of the global uncertain situation, culture is the first in line to be cut.”
Artist Chloe Joy posted: “Thanks for giving me my first opportunity and supporting us all!”
David Don, general manager of the HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast, said he did not think it was “the final chapter of the festival” as it had built up momentum.
“Public art has significant impact in society, particularly in suburbs, changing the whole dynamic of how people identify with those particular spaces. A citywide festival provides a multitude of opportunities for artists and audiences to engage with art.”
Savage said people did not have to walk far around Brisbane to encounter an artwork created for the festival.
He gave the examples of a six-storey high work painted on M Block at QUT Gardens Point by Spanish artist Manuel Guirao, and work by Brisbane artist Leans on the pillars of the Airtrain line near the former Toombul Shopping Centre, as two of the largest.
“Some of the works we painted in 2016 are still going strong,” he said.
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