What’s on This Month: Football, Fashion, Food Festivals and More

It’s a blockbuster month in Brisbane. The Margs are flowing; the shopping’s heating up; and theatre is getting a well-deserved boost.

Here are the 11 best things to do in Brisbane in March 2026 – and all the food news you might have missed.

Jump to:

• Festivals and events

• Theatre

• Art

• Food news and new openings

Festivals and events in March 2026

It’s a bumper year for events. Head here to check out our 2026 festival and events wrap – or keep reading to find out about this month’s best.

• AFC Women’s Asian Cup, March 2 to 19: The Matildas are back for The AFC Women’s Asian Cup. It’s the second time the tournament has come to Australia, with games hosted in Perth, the Gold Coast and Sydney. The competition doubles as a qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament, so there’s plenty at stake for all involved. Australia is playing Iran at Gold Coast Stadium on March 5. The stadium will also play host to the Korea vs Iran, Philippines vs Korea, and Iran vs the Philippines matches, as well as a play-off on March 19. Tickets start from $20.

• James Street Up Late, March 19: Brisbane’s hottest shopping street’s annual celebration is back. James St Up Late is essentially a block party but with in-store discounts, prizes and party bags to be won, a best-dressed competition, special menus, DJs and more.

• Score a free coffee at Bellissimo, March 24 & 25:  For two mornings this March, Audible is teaming up with Bellissimo to pour free coffees for anyone keen to start the day on a more mindful note. Each cup comes covered in artwork by an Aussie artist based on wellbeing audiobooks. 150 free coffees will be given our between 7.30am and 10am at Bellissimo's Coorparoo, Fortitude Valley and Bulimba locations. Head here for more info.

Theatre in March 2026

Brisbane’s 2026 theatre calendar is packed with musicals, adaptations, and Australian premieres. Here’s what to catch this month.

• Antigone: You might think an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in 440 BC would be hard for a contemporary audience to relate to, but La Boite thinks the story of Antigone is just as relevant today. Starring Maddison Burridge, this interpretation centres on a fearless young woman who refuses to stay silent. The play explores themes of protest, conscience and defiance. You’ll be left asking: who gets to decide what is just? And what price are we prepared to pay for the truth? Antigone runs from March 5 to 21 at La Boite Theatre. Tickets are available online.

• Art: Richard Roxburgh (Rake, The Correspondent, Elvis), Damon Herriman (Better Man, Mr Inbetween, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Ryan Corr (House of the Dragon, Holding the Man, Kangaroo) unite to bring French play Art to Australian stages. It’s a light-hearted exploration of friendship, ego and opinion. The production is lauded for its biting wit and pitch-perfect timing. Art runs from March 11 to 22 at Playhouse Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are available online.

Art exhibitions in March 2026

Art lovers must be exhausted. The first few months of 2026 have been jam-packed with exhibitions. Here are five you can see this month.

• Olafur Eliasson: Presence, QAGOMA: Icelandic Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is known for his immersive installations that draw on elements of water, light and air temperature to transport viewers to a new realm. This Brisbane-exclusive exhibition delivers a multi-sensory journey that celebrates his three-decade career. Visit to see, feel, hear and touch two much-loved QAGOMA works, including Riverbed – wear comfortable shoes to explore the rocky landscape and running water – and The Cubic Structural Evolution Project, an all-white Lego city perpetually built and rebuilt by visitors. Until July 12, 2026. $14 to $33.

• A Bigger View, HOTA:  Explore a selection of monumental landscape works from the National Gallery of Australia in this large-scale exhibition. Take in David Hockney’s A Bigger Grand Canyon and Imants Tillers’s Mount Analogue, alongside pieces by other revered figures such as Bridget Riley and Australians Sally Gabori and William Robinson. This Gold Coast show presents diverse approaches to landscape painting, offering a fresh perspective on the cornerstone genre that has shaped Australian art history. Until June 21, 2026. Free.

Food news and new openings

What we’ve covered recently:

• Four new venues opened on the final weekend of February, all of them set to become local favourites. The Snug team completed its Coorparoo trilogy with Bar Cooper’s, a family-friendly bar centred on a woodfired oven. The Anyday Group is back with its third CBD venue in seven months, Le Royale. Sydney-favourite sanga shop Kosta’s opened its first Brisbane location. Then there’s Venner, which is bringing neo-Nordic cuisine back to Brisbane and which Broadsheet’s Elliot Baker called “one of Brisbane’s best openings of 2026.”

• We’re keeping an eye on Tino, the new all-day venue from the Mosconi team, which is set to open in late April.

You might have missed:

•  All of us are just one minor inconvenience away from hitting up a wine bar. These are Brisbane’s best. We also celebrated three new wine bar-bottle shop hybrids that have recently opened up around town.

•  March marks the start of autumn, so we’re looking back at all the new cafes, bars and restaurants we got excited about in summer. Here are 10 new spots to try.

• Our “Supper Partying” columnist Becca Wang has started a new series teaching us how to host a dinner party for four for $50 or less. Here are her recipes and recs for an izakaya-inspired party.

Reporting by Alice Jeffrey.