“This time now, here, feels really urgent. I think we’re on shifting sands,” she told the crowd at the Metro Arts season launch in Brisbane.

Thomas knows how precarious arts funding can be: during the pandemic, hers was one of many organisations to access the federal government’s RISE emergency money.

With the $286 million cultural policy launched on Monday, things are looking up, but Thomas said much more was needed to support arts organisations.

“We remain hopeful that there will be more meaningful funds to support this policy in the May budget,” she said.

Metro Arts works specifically with independent artists to develop new work, with exhibitions and performances that often go on to bigger stages around the country.

So its 2023 program released on Wednesday was very much the future of visual and performing arts, with half a dozen new shows featuring dance, movement, theatre and music.

Cecilia Martin used to be a globetrotting professional acrobat but a series of accidents and injuries resulted in a career decline.

The world premiere of her performance Break, produced with Queensland collective The Farm, tells the story of her recovery in a show that combines dance, theatre and circus.

The show asks what ambitions cost and how people recover when it all goes wrong.

The Farm also kicks off the season in January with Hold Me Closer Tony Danza, a show inspired by a misheard song lyric.

Expect catchy pop songs, killer choreography, satire and sensuality, and for those who relish audience participation, people can take sides in a dance-off.

The stage is also a dancefloor at The People’s Dance Party, an immersive event in March with pop-up artists and an afternoon kids session.

Fresh from a sell-out season during 2022’s Mad Dance Festival, Betwixt by Pink Matter fuses street dance with spoken word to explore culture, relationships and identity.

In April, Brisbane’s alternative electro-trash trio The Architects of Sound will preview songs from their “second debut album” ARTFAP in the one-night-only show Rough, Red and Raw, promising “unhinged” visuals, deadpan comedy and sensual choreography.

In May, a show from indelabilityarts looks at women and mental health: SHE (See us, Hear us, Engage with us) is led by Amy Ingram of The Good Room.

The performance collective uses people’s anonymous experiences to create art – expect a conversation about the pandemic, #metoo, floods, fire, famine and everything in between.

The exhibition program kicks off with Ctrl+Alt+Del: Reclaim, a show from First Nations, Pacific Islander and culturally diverse artists.

AAP travelled with the assistance of Metro Arts.