The City of Brisbane Award for outstanding creative contribution

This is a peak award to acknowledge an outstanding contribution by an individual or organisation to Brisbane’s creative sector. Nominations were made by Collab. Affiliates, with the selection determined by the Collab. Board of Directors.

WINNER: Yaron Lifschitz, Artistic Director and CEO of Circa.

Yaron Lifschitz has been described as a circus visionary and the Caravaggio of contemporary circus - descriptions that are well deserved.

Over more than 20 plus years, he took what was a fledgling Brisbane arts organisation to become one of the world’s great performance companies - redefining the artform of contemporary circus and facilitating the development of artists who subsequently went on to create their own work.

The legacy of Circa alumni is profound and today’s output of Australian contemporary circus as a leading cultural export is due largely to the work of Yaron Lifschitz.

As a testament to his leadership, in 2019 Circa became the first company in 20 years to be inducted to the Major Performing Arts Board, ahead of its subsequent change to the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework.

Through the challenging COVID years, Yaron was instrumental in leading the sector out of the pandemic when Circa became one of the first companies back on local and global stages.

In 2025, Yaron’s productions were performed more than 400 times in nearly 100 cities across the globe; and in the same year he won the International Society for the Performing Arts “Distinguished Artist Award” - the first Queenslander to receive the accolade.

To quote The Stage, UK: “It has long been established that Circa’s director Yaron Lifschitz is some sort of virtuoso.”

And Melbourne’s The Age: “Under director Yaron Lifschitz, the Circa ensemble has become globally recognised for its innovative and influential style of circus, which expands the vocabulary and emotional palette of the form, exploring fertile borderlands with physical theatre and contemporary dance in a way that deepens the impact of the physical genius on display.”