04/02/03
Local Government and Regional Development Minister Tom Stephens will travel to Broome today for the opening of the Broome Arts Festival.
With the assistance of a State Government grant of $75,000, the Perth Festival's world-class program has been able to expand into key regional areas of Western Australia for the first time in its 50-year history.
"This represents great news for people living in the regions who not only have an opportunity to share in the celebrations of the festival but also benefit from its potential to attract valuable cultural tourism dollars," Mr Stephens said.
"With a State as vast as ours, these regional festivals are an opportunity to promote the unique cultural and environmental landscape of WA."
The regional festivals are hosting an array of world-class entertainment, featuring leading international and Australian artists in a program of classical and contemporary music, theatre, dance, jazz, visual arts, comedy, film and literature.
The Government grant will assist towards the cost of staging events including the Mandurah International Opera Festival; the Regional Festival Program in Broome, Albany and Kalgoorlie; and the Centrepiece Event - Inside Australia.
The Broome and Kimberley program will include 'Big Spirit', a concert featuring the Pigram Brothers, selected world artists, a range of Festival films and theatre events, writers and Johnnie Walker Watershed bands. A variety of workshops and masterclasses will also be staged throughout the festival.
The Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields program is hosting one of the festival's centrepiece events - Antony Gormley's 50th Anniversary Festival Commission, 'Inside Australia' at Lake Ballard.
The Goldfields has also included the Australian premiere of Les Grooms' Threepenny Ring - an 80-minute, condensed version of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle and a comedy opera of high energy and humour for all the family direct from France.
The program for the Great Southern Regional Festival has featured Marianne Faithfull in concert at McLean Park in Denmark.
The Australian premiere of 'A Night in November' by acclaimed playwright Marie Jones of Stones in His Pockets fame, which tells of one man's journey of self-discovery amidst the heady days of the 1994 World Cup in Ireland, has been successfully performed at the Albany Town Hall Theatre.
"We are delighted to be able to support this excellent initiative by PIAF to bring such a high standard of entertainment to people living in the regions," Mr Stephens said.
Minister's office: 9213 6500
