PUSH IT! Undercover Artist Festival 2025 Launch.

Beth Keehn reports

For one week from 22 to 27 September 2025, Undercover Artist Festival (UAF) will take over Queensland Theatre’s (QT’s) stages. Festival Director, Maddie Little, launched her PUSH IT! program with a packed studio of fans and followers at QT’s Diane Cilento Studio on 19 June.

This year also happens to be UAF’s 10 birthday, so the launch was also a celebration. Special guest speakers included Queensland’s Minister for Education and the Arts, John-Paul Langbroek MP who spoke about the importance of supporting accessible arts, plus representatives from UAF’s partner organisations, Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans (QT), and Louise Bezzina (Brisbane Festival), who were both excited to be involved. Daniel said he as looking forward to the diverse and inclusive performances included in the UAF program. Louise congratulated Maddie on the exciting program of works and spoke about the close relationship between UAF and Brisbane Festival and her commitment to including disability-led work in her program. She also acknowledged their joint sponsors, Choice, Passion, Life for supporting both festivals. AbiliTV, the disability-led community TV and online program, is also a festival partner.

The program launch included musical performances by David Truong from Ambition Road and Emma Tomlinson and Aspy Jones. And did I mention there were cupcakes!? It was a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with plenty of networking going on between creatives and producers before and after the launch. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to the designer of ‘My Abstract World’ the vibrant blue artwork that forms UAF’s visual design and branding, Annika Strand, who was actually in Sweden watching proceedings via an online call. It was a wonderful celebration of the season to come.

Since 2015, UAF has engaged more than 600 artists and arts workers. Their 10-year milestone continues the celebration of our rich and diverse cultural landscape. You only have to look at the program’s categories this year to grasp the scope of performances to expect: theatre; film; dance; music; comedy; cabaret; circus; poetry; and panel discussions, featuring many world premieres. Performances will include: acrobatics by Chimera Arts from the Gold Coast and Brisbane in conjunction with Flipside Circus; theatre and dance from Crossroad Arts in Mackay; a Comedy Club featuring Imaan Hadchiti (South Australia) and MC Madeleine Stewart (Sydney); Deaf Indigenous Dance Group (Cairns); Comedy on Cue from Blah Blah Blah Improv (Coolangatta); The Travelling Rose Theatre (Brisbane); Access Arts (Brisbane); dance by Touch Compass (New Zealand); Screech Arts and Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre (both Brisbane-based); Wundersounds featuring Emma Tomlinson (Sunshine Coast and Brisbane) with performances by Nethra (The Voice 2024) and SAMMM. (indie/punk band from Brisbane); cabaret by The Sisters of Invention (Adelaide) presented by Tutti Arts (South Australia); and the Trace Short Film Premiere and discussion – filmed in Northern NSW with artists from the Sprung Ensemble.

The biennial UAF overlaps every other year with the Brisbane Festival – which runs from 5 to 27 September – it is a natural fit for some Undercover Artist performances to be part of BrisFest too – this year including Something New: UAF Rehearsed Readings (featuring works by Oliver Hetherington-Page and Alex and Todd MacDonald).

All performances at QT are wheelchair accessible, Auslan interpreted, live captioned, audio described and relaxed performance mode.

Find out more: https://undercoverartistfest.com/2025-festival-program

Beth Keehn

Photos:  Cinnamon Smith