The Adelaide–Perth festival fortnight — pairing the country’s two strongest curated festivals
The Adelaide–Perth festival fortnight — pairing the country’s two strongest curated festivals
Australia’s two most internationally credible curated mainstage arts festivals — Adelaide Festival and Perth Festival — run concurrently each year through the early March fortnight. Adelaide Festival typically runs late February into mid-March across two-and-a-half weeks; Perth Festival runs late February into mid-March across three weeks. The international touring productions on the festival circuit often pair an Adelaide and Perth residency in the same fortnight — the curatorial overlap is real, and for the festival traveller willing to fly between the two cities, the pairing produces the densest international mainstage programme available anywhere in Australia in a single trip.
The case for pairing
Adelaide Festival’s curatorial identity is built on the curated selection — the artistic director picks twenty productions that together form a coherent artistic argument for the year. Perth Festival’s curatorial identity is built on the longer history (founded 1953, the country’s oldest international arts festival) and the geographical advantage of being able to offer international ensembles a single substantial Asia-Pacific residency on a touring circuit that already includes Hong Kong, Singapore and Auckland.
What this means for the festival traveller: the productions in Adelaide and Perth are different. The Adelaide programme tends toward the European mainstage theatre and contemporary music line; the Perth programme tends toward the international touring contemporary theatre and dance line with a stronger Asia-Pacific component. There is some overlap (an Akram Khan production, a Castellucci, a Toneelgroep tour will sometimes do both festivals) but the bulk of each festival’s programme is unique to that festival.
The trip plan
The standard trip plan is one week in each city, with the Adelaide Festival fortnight running first. Adelaide is the smaller and more concentrated city — the festival programme happens within a fifteen-minute walking radius of the Adelaide Festival Centre. Perth is the larger and more dispersed city — the festival programme happens at the State Theatre Centre, His Majesty’s Theatre, the UWA Somerville Auditorium for the Lotterywest Films programme, and bespoke festival-only outdoor venues. The Perth Festival’s longer length (three weeks vs Adelaide’s two-and-a-half) gives more flexibility on the scheduling.
For the festival traveller specifically, our recommendation is: lock the Adelaide week first when the programme launches in late October, then book Perth around the Adelaide schedule and the international touring co-productions you’ve already committed to in Adelaide.
The accommodation question
Adelaide hotels in Festival fortnight quote double the rest-of-year rate, the city is small, and anything later than November booking and you’re staying in suburbs. Perth accommodation in early March is more available — the city has more capacity and the Perth Festival’s scale is smaller relative to the city’s tourism infrastructure than Adelaide’s is.
The pairing within each city
In Adelaide, pair the Festival mainstage programme with the Adelaide Fringe (running concurrently — the second-largest fringe in the world after Edinburgh, free programme launches in October), Adelaide Writers’ Week (a single weekend in early March, free entry), WOMADelaide (the world music four-day festival in early March), and the substantial Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Festival programme.
In Perth, pair the Festival mainstage programme with the Lotterywest Films programme at the Somerville Auditorium (open-air cinema on the UWA campus, six-week programme), the West Australian Symphony Orchestra Festival programme at the Perth Concert Hall, and a half-day in Fremantle for the heritage and the Bathers Beach.
The booking strategy
Both festivals announce their programmes in late October — typically the same week, though Adelaide tends to launch one or two days ahead. The marquee productions in Adelaide sell out within forty-eight hours of programme launch; Perth’s marquee productions sell within four to seven days. The Lotterywest Films programme in Perth — the festival’s strongest value proposition — has tickets release later, typically in late November.
For the dedicated festival traveller, the four-week trip pattern (one week Adelaide, one week Perth, with a buffer either side for the travel and recovery) is the most rewarding annual cultural-tourism investment available in Australia. Book the trip the day Adelaide’s programme launches, not when you’ve finalised your ticket selection.
Our running festival coverage is at Festivals, with the Adelaide and Perth programme launches covered in late October each year.
