University of Western Australia: Festival shifts dates to continue to celebrate local artists

We will be postponing the start of Perth Festival 2021 for another week on the advice of the WA Government and the Chief Health Officer. The good news is we plan to extend our season to make up for lost time.

While we recognise the impact of this delay on our artists, audiences, supporters and partners, we understand that we need to do what’s necessary to keep our community safe. We are also optimistic that the continued positive progress in WA will allow us to bring this amazing Festival to stages and venues near you.

Perth Festival 2021 has been rescheduled to Monday 15 February – Sunday 14 March. Lotterywest Films at UWA Somerville will reopen on Monday 15 February with Assassins. We ask customers to pre-book online if you’d like to grab a ticket as capacity continues to be limited.

The Tim Minchin performances at Kings Park will also be rescheduled, with news to follow on confirmed dates. City of Lights, supported by Lotterywest in Perth Cultural Centre will open on Tuesday 16 February and operate until Sunday 14 March.

All current Festival tickets remain valid and ticket holders will be contacted regarding rescheduled dates. This may take a few days longer than usual as we work through the issues. There is no need to call or email the box office. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

Festival Executive Director Nathan Bennett said: ‘The leadership and support of the State Government, our Principal Partner Lotterywest, Founding Partner the University of Western Australia and all our treasured partners and supporters has helped us immensely throughout these uncertain and disruptive times. We are grateful that their support has given us the confidence and capacity to pursue the dreams of our artists and celebrate our community together.’

Festival Artistic Director Iain Grandage said: ‘As we ready ourselves to celebrate our artists and welcome our audiences, we appreciate being able to do so in such challenging times.

‘Our enthusiasm is tempered by our thoughts for those who have lost so much in the bushfires of this week and we can’t begin to comprehend their sorrow.

‘Festivals exist to bring people together and with our friends at Fringe World we are seeking to shine a little joy in these unsettling times. We’ll do everything we can to succeed.’

Perth Festival has a WA Health-approved COVID Safety Plan and we will continue to closely work with our artists, our partners and the State Government as we all go through this together.

We offer our support to all the people affected by this virus and thank all the health and support workers keeping us all safe.

Remember to consider each other, look out for Covid-safe guidance, maintain social distancing, wash your hands and stay home if unwell.

We look forward to being able to celebrate our community, our artists and our extraordinary Western Australian stories as soon as we can and as safely as we can.