As ArtsHub has previously noted, festivals in Australian cities outside of Melbourne and Sydney have the advantage of having smaller geographical hubs for easy access to the events in their line-up. Perth is no exception to this – especially considering its neatly planned arts precinct with the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), State Theatre of WA, PICA (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art), the Blue Room Theatre, State Library and WA Museum Boola Bardip are all within a stone’s throw of each other.
Halfway through this year’s Perth Festival and the ease of travelling between exhibitions and performances is only outdone by the fantastic number of free program inclusions. On one day (Friday 16 February) this writer was able to visit exhibitions by Joan Jonas, Helen Johnson, Yhonnie Scarce, A K Burns, Linda Tegg and Rebecca Baumann, and see performances by STRUT Dance and The Farm – never having to walk more than a couple of blocks (indeed, all but the Tegg and Baumann exhibitions were in the aforementioned arts precinct). Even more impressively, only one of those things was ticketed (The Farm’s production of Stunt Double).
