Louise Bezzina, the artistic director and chief executive of the Brisbane Powerhouse, describes her role at one of Queensland's most beloved cultural institutions as something deeply personal — she sees herself as the "mother of the house", charged with caring for a heritage-listed building and nurturing the creative community that calls it home.
Bezzina, who spent six years as artistic director of the Brisbane Festival before taking the helm at the Powerhouse, sat down to reflect on the journey that brought her to one of the city's most prominent arts leadership roles — a journey that began, she says, when she attended the venue's official opening as a theatre student back in 2000.
From theatre student to custodian of an iconic institution
"I remember going to the official opening as a theatre student, and I was so inspired," Bezzina says. "It really instilled something in me as a young creative to feel like I could be part of something, and now to think all those years later I'm at the helm as the custodian of this incredible institution is a great privilege."
That sense of privilege, she explains, is grounded in something both practical and poetic. On difficult days, she says, stepping out onto the Powerhouse deck and looking across to the Brisbane River is enough to reset her perspective. The venue's position along the river, she adds, is a constant reminder of the "absolute abundance of opportunity" the institution represents.
The move from festival director to running a year-round cultural precinct has brought its own learning curve. Unlike the concentrated intensity of a festival cycle, the Powerhouse operates across a full 12-month calendar — and within the "quirks and nuances" of a heritage-listed building that presents challenges she had not previously encountered.
"I feel like I'm the mother of the house now and it's my job to care for it and make sure that it's really well looked after so it continues to be a beating heart for arts and culture in our city and broader," she says.
Brisbane's confidence problem — and how the city is overcoming it
One theme Bezzina returns to with evident passion is Brisbane's evolving sense of cultural identity. She acknowledges that for a period, the city carried a kind of inferiority complex — an unspoken tendency to measure itself against Sydney and Melbourne rather than celebrate its own strengths.
"There was a period where we almost were a little bit like, 'Oh, we're not Sydney and we're not Melbourne'," she says. "I don't think we use that any more. I think we've shaken that off."
What she finds genuinely irritating, she admits, is any residual second-guessing about the city's artistic worth. From her perspective, Brisbane's creative community is defined by generosity, collaboration, and a refreshing willingness to back a good idea — qualities she believes set it apart rather than hold it back.
"It really irritates me when we second-guess ourselves, that 'Oh, it's Brisbane'. That's just unacceptable to me," she says. "We're Brisbane. Be proud. Don't try and be anything that we're not, because that's the whole point."
River Pride Parade and the vision for Melt Festival
Among the initiatives Bezzina is most energised by is the River Pride Parade, a signature event within the Powerhouse's annual Melt Festival. She believes the parade has the potential to grow into one of the most spectacular of its kind anywhere in the world.
Her ambition is to build the event into a full-scale aquatic spectacle — a "flotilla of absolute spectacle creations" moving along the Brisbane River — transforming it into a landmark cultural moment on the national calendar.
"River Pride Parade has the opportunity and the potential to be one of the most incredible and exciting parades in the world," she says. "Leaning into that with a whole flotilla of absolute spectacle creations is something that I'm really excited to create."
With Brisbane 2032 on the horizon, Bezzina's optimism for the city's cultural future appears unshakeable — and her commitment to the Powerhouse as its custodian, equally so.
