Perth Festival is set to begin this week, bringing a month of performances, music, visual arts and community events to venues across Western Australia.
Running from Friday, 6 February through to Sunday, 1 March 2026, the festival will present 108 events, including 33 free experiences designed to keep the programme accessible for a wide audience. Organisers say this year’s schedule includes a strong mix of festival commissions, world premieres and Australian exclusives, alongside a clear focus on Western Australian artists and companies.
A major feature of the 2026 edition is the record $9.6 million Lotterywest grant, delivered through support from the Cook Government. The funding is intended to strengthen the state’s creative economy and help maintain Perth Festival’s position as a major cultural fixture on the national calendar.
The festival is building on momentum from the 2025 launch of Casa Musica at the East Perth Power Station, which turned the industrial space into a hub for music, free programming, projections and installations. The initiative will be expanded in 2026, continuing the festival’s interest in using both traditional and unexpected locations to stage work.
This year’s programme reflects the range of activity within WA’s arts sector, combining homegrown productions with visiting international performances. Highlights include Lé Nør [the rain] by The Last Great Hunt, Songs of the Bulbul by the Aakash Odedra Company, Scenes from the Climate Era by WA Youth Theatre Company, and Incandescence: Ballet at the Quarry by WA Ballet. Music audiences will also see events such as BlakOut featuring Baker Boy, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and MĀ, as well as Mayhem and Rapture from the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Perth Festival, founded in 1953, is Australia’s longest-running multi-arts festival and regularly attracts more than half a million attendees. Over decades it has developed an international reputation for commissioning new work while continuing to showcase Western Australian talent across theatre, dance, music, literature, film and visual arts.
Creative Industries Minister Simone McGurk said the government views the festival as an important contributor to cultural and economic life in the state, providing opportunities for performers, creatives and the wider workforce behind productions.
With free events alongside ticketed performances, Perth Festival 2026 is shaping up as both a celebration of local creativity and a platform for major artistic presentations, offering Perth audiences a packed summer programme across the city.
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