Perth Festival cancels opening event due to Omicron uncertainty

Set to return as of 11th February, the Perth Festival has been forced to cancel its large-scale opening event, Escape, due to Western Australia’s growing Omicron outbreak.

Set to take place on the opening two nights of the Festival (11th and 12th February), the event was expected to attract tens of thousands of people across multiple sites at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach and Victoria Quay involving hundreds of artists, staff and volunteers.

In a statement, organisers advised “we understand the cancellation of Escape will be immensely disappointing for our audiences and all the artists, staff, volunteers, partners and contractors who have worked on this event for many months.”

The statement added “the show will go on for our other incredible Perth Festival events and we stand ready to welcome audiences to our extraordinary celebration of culture and community in COVID-safe venues from 11th February to 6th March.”  

“Perth Festival has a WA Health-approved COVID-19 Safety Plan and has closely worked with Western Australian Government agencies in the planning for Escape for nearly a year. 

“Perth Festival has decided we cannot proceed with Escape because of the constantly changing risks around the spread of COVID-19, the large-scale nature of this event and its potential impact on our capacity to present Escape safely in such a large and open public space. “

Festival Executive Director, Nathan Bennett advised “we have constantly adapted throughout this pandemic to maintain as many arts and events workers' jobs as possible and to be true to our not-for-profit purpose of improving life in Western Australia through art.”  

Advising that Festival would prioritise paying those artists, contractors and suppliers affected by the cancellation, Bennett added “we also are thankful for the leadership and support of the State Government, our principal partner Lotterywest, founding partner the University of Western Australia and all our valued partners and supporters who stand so firmly by our side as we continue to navigate the evolving challenges of this pandemic.”

Perth Festival 2022 will celebrate the theme of Ocean this summer with an extensive program of brilliant world-premieres and stunningly reimagined venues across performance, visual arts, film and writing events.  

Image: Western Australia’s growing number of Omicron cases has forced Perth Festival to cancel its large-scale opening event, Escape. Credit: Perth Festival/Rob Dose.