Louise Bezzina to leave Bleach* Festival in move to Brisbane
It’s a farewell for Bleach* Festival this week as one of their major organisers announces her move to Brisbane.
Gold Coast
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BLEACH* Festival is bidding farewell to one of its senior organisers this week as CEO and Artistic Director Louise Bezzina sets her sights on the Brisbane River.
It will be officially announced today that Bezzina, 37, is to run the state’s premier arts event Brisbane Festival.
Bezzina has a knack for commissioning outdoor arts events including Opera on The Beach and the Helpmann Award winning TIDE, by The Farm, a two-day improvised performance on a sand bank in the Currumbin Creek estuary.
She said she was proud of Bleach Festival’s unique position on the Gold Coast, and ready to deliver her final festival program in the new year.
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“Bleach* Festival has been my life for the past eight years and I have loved every moment building it from nothing to become The Gold Coast Festival,” she said.
“The fondest memories will stay with me as I move into this exciting new chapter as Artistic Director of Brisbane Festival.
“I applaud the City of Gold Coast for its unwavering support of Bleach* and for enabling this cultural revolution to take place.”
Bezzina says she is excited to be joining Brisbane Festival in May after delivering her final Bleach Festival in April. She will work closely with current artistic director David Berthold as he delivers his finale.
Brisbane Festival runs from September 6 to 28 and has an annual attendance of around 1.4 million and an estimated economic impact of around $38 million. This year it had its highest ever box office turnover with more than $3 million in ticket sales.
Brisbane Festival chair, Paul Spiro says Bezzina, was appointed after a competitive international search and has impeccable credentials.
“Louise’s deep understanding of festivals, her curatorial rigour and vision for the future of Brisbane Festival made her an irresistible choice,” Spiro says.
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Bezzina will be the fifth director of the festival which began in 1996, is the first woman to be appointed and the youngest artistic director so far.
She’s from Mackay originally and after attending Griffith University in Brisbane she cut her teeth running the Mackay Festival of Arts.
She has worked for Brisbane Festival previously as a producer and was founding director and CEO of Bleach Festival for the past eight years.
She was also part of the creative team behind Festival 2018 at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She is a past recipient of Business Woman of the Year - Arts and Culture, a Gold Coast Women in Business award.
Bezzina is married to photographer John Gass and the couple has two children ...Connor, 5 and Isabella, 2. The family will relocate to Brisbane in the coming months.
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