More than 800 local and international performers have descended on Perth and regional Western Australia for the 2014 Fringe World Festival.
Premier Colin Barnett, who will officially open the Fringe World Festival this evening, said this year's festival would be bigger and brighter than ever with more than 450 free and ticketed performances at 60 traditional and non-traditional venues throughout the City of Perth; the wider metropolitan area including Fremantle and Midland; as well as Geraldton, Albany, Esperance and Bunbury.
"Audience numbers have more than doubled since the inaugural 2012 festival, with around 215,000 people attending fringe events in 2013 - about 15 per cent of whom were international visitors," Mr Barnett said.
"The Government is proud to support the third annual Fringe World Festival and regional touring program, Outer Fringe, providing more than $1.5million through the Department of Culture and the Arts, Lotterywest, the City of Perth and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority."
Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the Government had provided an additional $120,000 to support this year's Outer Fringe Festival tour, which for the first time would include performances in Bunbury for South-West audiences.
"Fringe festivals create an energy all of their own, reaching a broad audience and encouraging other enterprises. Western Australian audiences have taken to the festival with great enthusiasm," he said.
A report from the 2013 Fringe World Festival showed that 49 per cent of those surveyed were not regular attendees at arts events and the majority said they were planning to attend this year's festival.
Fact File
Fringe festival audiences numbers more than doubled between the 2012 and 2013 festivals
South-West audiences included in this year's Outer Fringe with performances in Bunbury
More information at: https://www.fringeworld.com.au/
Culture and the Arts Minister's office - 6552 6200
