In February 2026, art doesn’t politely wait for you inside velvet-roped venues. Instead, thanks to the grand return of the recently reinvented Perth Festival, it now ambushes you in the wild, popping up in unexpected places, surprising streets, and hidden spaces across the city.
The year’s Perth Festival program, running from February 6th to March 1st, is taking the scale, creativity, and ambition you expect from Australia’s longest-running arts festival, and inviting you to experience it all in places outside the ordinary. Office buildings, bridges, riverbanks, power stations, cathedrals, hidden bars, and more come into play across 23 packed days.
The sheer scale is impressive: 108 events, including 13 Perth Festival commissions, 20 world premieres, nine Australian premieres, and 24 feature films. And with 33 of the experiences on offer completely free of charge, it’s easier than ever to wander, discover, and stumble across something worth your time.
Here are the venues we’re excited about at Perth Festival 2026.
Things to do in Perth
East Perth Power Station, and Casa Musica by the River
Following a 2025 reinvention, the East Perth Power Station is now fully stepping into its role as a festival epicentre. The colossal industrial space will host immersive sound, history, and art, before flipping the switch for a run of major live moments deserving of its scale. That might mean genre-defying singer-violinist Sudan Archives, an underground club takeover from SYBER: 013, Baker Boy’s high-octane set, or Aussie art-rock supergroup Bleak Squad.
Just outside, Casa Musica offers a more laid-back counterpart, with free live music spilling out along the riverfront. Sunset sessions, all-ages crowds, and First Nations art projected onto the power station walls make this hot spot an easy place to start your night (and a surprisingly hard one to leave).
Perth Town Hall, But Not As You Know It
Step inside the The Embassy, and you’d be forgiven for not recognising it as the Perth Town Hall. The soaring space will be transformed into a glittering ballroom of another era, where music, movement, and unexpected performances come together for the duration of the festival. Over a dozen unique experience await, from Somi’s soulful blend of East African folk and New York jazz to Ali Bodycoat’s jazz, swing and big-band glamour. Le Gatau Chocolat’s intimate, genre-hopping Raw Cacao show also returns, peeling back the layers of the man behind the drag, with Marney McQueen’s comedic cabaret and pop-infused Songs About Boats! bringing a touch of Broadway to the ballroom.
St Mary’s Cathedral, After Hours
The Sanctum Series brings finely tuned musical performances into one of Perth’s most arresting architectural spaces. From the transcendent chamber sounds of the Lonquich–Clerici–Mehner Trio with Júlia Pusker to the intimate ensemble work of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Echoes Through Time and the ethereal Nordic harmonies of Åkervinda, the series transforms the cathedral into a stage, with the grand building’s incredible acoustics enhancing the marvel of these skilled musicians.
Forest Place, Reimagined
This unassuming public square has become one of the festival’s liveliest destinations for dance. There’s Cercles, the open-air communal experience bringing 150+ amateur movers together in the heart of the CBD; Concrete Echoes, a free world premiere uniting Indo-Pacific dancers in breathtaking displays of artistic athleticism; The Perth Moves Dance Battle, where every style — from breaking to ballet and beyond — goes head-to-head into a high-energy showdown that’ll have the whole space heaving; and more. All happening at the humble city square you’d likely pass through without thinking twice.
Boorloo Bridge, Illuminating Country
Before carrying thousands of sports fans during the footy season, the Boorloo/Matagarup Bridge will become one of Perth’s most unexpected canvases for a large-scale animated light installation for Perth Festival. Each night, the bridge will come alive with a spectacular animation of colour and history, visible from far and wide, but best experienced up close from the banks of the Swan.
