Buskers burst on to Fremantle streets

Fremantle will become even more alive this Easter long-weekend when street performers, buskers and comedians descend on the port city for the 11th annual Fremantle Street Arts Festival.

Tourism Minister Liz Constable said the number of performances and artists meant the street festival was the largest of its kind in Australia.

Dr Constable said that about 100,000 people visited the festival last year.

"The Fremantle Street Arts Festival attracts people from all over Australia and last year about 14,000 people from overseas visited the events," she said.

"Many of the participating artists come from interstate and overseas, but there are also many high calibre local Western Australian artists offering a unique local aspect to the festival."

The Minister said the Fremantle Street Arts Festival, which will run from April 11-13, was being supported by Eventscorp, a division of Tourism Western Australia, for the first time.

"Eventscorp's support has helped the event to attract world-class artists, build media interest and market the festival to potential interstate and overseas visitors," she said.

"Since its inception in 1998, the festival has grown to become a successful and popular annual event and the State Government is proud to support it through Eventscorp's arts and cultural events scheme."

Dr Constable said events such as the Fremantle Street Arts Festival provided a fantastic opportunity to showcase historic Fremantle.

"Popular tourist spots in Fremantle including the Cappuccino Strip and Fishing Boat Harbour will host some of the key performances throughout the festival," she said.

"I encourage all Western Australians to support the event by getting down to Fremantle this weekend."

The Minister said events featured on the 2009 Eventscorp calendar were estimated to attract more than 780,000 spectators, lure visitors to stay almost 300,000 nights in WA and generate over 2,000 hours of television broadcast to millions of viewers in more than 100 countries.