Revealed Exhibition: New and Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists
Opening 4pm Thu 25 Mar | Free entry
Runs Fri 26 Mar – Sun 23 May

Revealed WA Aboriginal Art Market | Online Event
Mon 29 Mar – Thu 1 Apr

In spite of all the challenges of the past twelve months – major events cancelled, strict travel restrictions and art centre closures – WA’s Aboriginal artists continue to create an amazing array of quality artworks, and programs like Revealed, which connect these artists with new audiences, have never been more important.

Revealed celebrates the vitality and diversity of Aboriginal artistic practice in Western Australia through an exhibition, online art market and two days of professional development workshops specifically tailored for Aboriginal artists and Art Centre staff, presented by Fremantle Arts Centre.

The prestigious Revealed Exhibition presents the works of over 100 new and emerging WA Aboriginal Artists in 2021. There are more than 300 fresh, contemporary artworks spanning a huge range of styles and mediums including painting, installation, textiles, photography, print media, video, jewellery, carving and sculpture.

Bessie Daylight, Bat and Goanna Ngarranggarni (detail), 2020, ochre and acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50cm. Image courtesy the artist and Warmun Art Centre

In addition to 31 remote and regional Aboriginal Art Centres, this year’s Revealed features the highest number of independent artists in the program’s history, including artists from Broome, Derby, Wickham, Ngarluma (Roebourne), Wadandi (Bunbury & South West), Whadjuk (Perth metropolitan) and Wilman (Dwellingup) Country.

“Increasing participation for independent artists has been a major focus for this year’s Revealed,” says Fremantle Arts Centre Revealed Exhibition Coordinator Jane Chambers.

“Without the infrastructure of an arts centre to support them, it can be really difficult for independent artists to connect with audiences and find opportunities to pursue their creative practice. The strength and variety of their works add a different perspective to the exhibition, which we can’t wait to share.”

Chenise Cameron’s works stand out as one such perspective. The 16-year old emerging Wongatha photographer is still at high school but already her strikingly beautiful photographs of family, friends and the stunning Country near where she lives in Wickham are sure to make her an exhibition stand out.

Independent artist Amanda Bell, a Badimia and Yued woman, born  on Whadjak country and raised on Wadandi land by the sea, returns for her second year in the Revealed Exhibition with an ambitious foray into a new medium. From our lips, mouth, throats and belly is a largescale glass and neon installation of her favourite Noongar word Moorditj! (meaning strong, good) which will beam across the gallery, simultaneously strong in impact and fragile in materiality.

“I had a vision of a beautiful Noongar word, as old as Boodja and as new as now, shining for all to see,” Amanda said. “I honour this word, this Country and our people.”

See the full list of artists participating in this year’s Revealed Exhibition.

All works in the Revealed Exhibition are for sale.

In addition to the Exhibition, the hugely popular Revealed WA Aboriginal Art Market, which was sadly cancelled in 2020, returns as an expanded online event in 2021.

Running for four days Monday 29 March – Thursday 1 April, an online event ensures the market can proceed and secure vital income for artists. It also means people living outside WA now have the chance to be part of the event and take home their very own Revealed artwork.

The Revealed Market is unique in that it’s the only event where Western Australian remote and regional art centres participate alongside several independent artists.

There will be a huge range of paintings, textiles, carved artefacts, homewares, prints, clothing, ceramics, jewellery and more available in a breadth of styles.

Artworks cost as little as $50 and 100% of profits raised from sales at the Revealed Market return to the artists and art centres.

Interested people may register for exclusive first access before sales open for the general public.

+ ALSO OPENING: STRAIGHT OUTTA WILURARRA

Opening alongside the Revealed Exhibition, Straight Outta Wilurarra makes a bold statement on the culture, style and unique voices of Western Desert people.

Travis Lane, Self-portrait, 2020, photographic print. Image courtesy Wilurarra Creative

Spanning music, fashion, design, writing and photography, Wilurarra Creative is an arts hub in the remote community of Mirlirrtjarra (Warburton) on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, 900km north-west of Kalgoorlie. For the past 16 years Wilurarra Creative has supported Ngaanyatjarra young adults to explore and express personal and collective identity, capturing the songs, stories, styles, language, artwork and living creativity of contemporary Ngaanyatjarra culture.

The Wilurarra Creative hub will be recreated in one of FAC’s galleries with a photographic studio, selfie booth, hair salon and art works.

Media Enquiries: Andrea Woods | [email protected] | 08 9432 9564

Header image: Chenise Cameron, Untitled #2, 2020, photographic print, ed. 1 of 3, 61 x 60cm. Image courtesy the artist

Angela Ferolla has had a long relationship with Fremantle Arts Centre. She’s been a popular tutor for 15 years – teaching adults and kids a range of textile-related skills from sewing machine basics to screen printing. She’s also been part of FAC’s install crew for the last two years.

Having studied textiles and visual arts at university, Angela ran a business making screen printed clothes for 10 years before returning to study fashion and textiles at TAFE. From here she moved to Japan to complete a fashion internship and cemented her love for fashion and textiles that tell a story.

After a successful and varied career with stints teaching textiles, designing costumes and taking on commercial commissions, Angela has returned to her fine arts practice in recent years.

For A Forest of Hooks and Nails Angela pays homage to the ancient flora that would have grown on the site we now know as Fremantle Arts Centre before the building was erected.

In her meticulous fashion, Angela created a pattern made up of 20 different plant and flower species to screen print directly onto the concrete floor in one of the passages which connect FAC’s gallery spaces.

To install the work, each flower was printed, hand painted and then re-printed in acrylic paint to create a seamless design.

Fellow FAC installer Phoebe Tran assisting with install of Angela Ferolla’s A particular garden before. Image courtesy of Angela Ferolla

Located in a thoroughfare, the work will likely wear away over the course of the exhibition, a choice Angela says reflects the transient delicacy of the natural environment.

Adorning the walls in the same corridor, Angela has hand stitched each plant individually, creating a fragile record of each species.

Angela Ferolla, A particular garden before, 2021, screenprinted and handpainted acrylic paint on concrete, dimensions variable. Photography by Rebecca Mansell

Angela Ferolla, A particular garden before (detail), 2021, screenprinted and handpainted acrylic paint on concrete, dimensions variable. Photography by Rebecca Mansell

Angela Ferolla, Bossiaea Eriocarpa, 2021, hand stitching on cotton organdy, 29 x 29cm. Photography by Rebecca Mansell

To find out what’s next for Angela follow her on Instagram @angela_ferolla or enrol in one of her classes.

A Forest of Hooks and Nails is open 10am – 5pm daily until Sunday 14 March. Free entry

For this year’s Perth Festival FAC presents A Forest of Hooks and Nails, an exhibition of new works which sees FAC’s install crew become the artists. Creating new artworks specific to the building’s history, architecture and their experiences working behind the scenes, the exhibition is rich and varied.

We’re catching up with some of the artists to find out more about their practice and the works they’ve created, kicking off with Rob Kettels.

For A Forest of Hooks and Nails Rob has filled Gallery 3 with 2.5 tonnes of rock salt for his work Mineral Rites, painting out the space with a dreamy pink gradient which we know visitors are going to love.

Hi Rob, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your practice?

I am an artist and PhD candidate at Curtin University. My art practice addresses specific slippages and errors – in art and the natural sciences – which continue to define the ways in which the environment is perceived in contemporary Western culture.

Tell us about the work you’ve created for A Forest of Hooks and Nails

The inspiration for my installation was based on a photograph I took in the Central Desert. It was taken on the dry salt-lake Wilkinkarra / Lake Mackay, one of Australia’s remotest places and fourth largest lake. In 2016, I tried and failed to walk across Wilkinkarra / Lake Mackay for a university art project. But the failure led to a new direction in my art practice and I started investigating the classical division between the inorganic and organic in Western ways of knowing the environment. By proposing an alternate point of view, my artwork aims to question the established metaphors used in the imaginary of the geologic.

Rob Kettels, Mineral Rites, 2021, salt, lighting gel, audio, acrylic paint, 437 x 890 x 539cm. Image courtesy of the artist

How long have you been part of FAC’s install crew?

I have been on the install crew since 2018, I started work on Carbon Supremacy by Andrew Sunley Smith (part of the group exhibition SPAN). My install Mineral Rites is loosely in “conversation” with Andrew’s Carbon Supremacy. Andrew filled Galley 3 with shredded tires, it was at that time I had the idea to fill Galley 3 with salt.

What’s your most memorable install experience?

Getting covered head to toe in soot from while working on Carbon Supremacy by Andrew Sunley Smith.

What was it like installing your own work for this exhibition?

The gradient on the walls for Mineral Rites took five days to paint, I was literally dreaming about gradients during that time.

What other projects have you got coming up?

I have an exhibition with Larissa Losch at Heathcote Gallery in May this year. We will be exploring the contemporary human relationship with the geologic.

Where can people keep up with your work?

They can visit my website robertkettels.com or follow me on Instagram @robkettels

A Forest of Hooks and Nails officially opens 6:30pm tonight Fri 19 Feb and runs until Sun 14 Mar

Top image: Rob Kettels in his installation Mineral Rites, 2021, salt, lighting gel, audio, acrylic paint,
437 x 890 x 539cm. Image courtesy of the artist

Fremantle Arts Centre’s 2021 Perth Festival exhibition, A Forest of Hooks and Nails, sees the organisation’s install team, a crew of talented multidisciplinary artists juggling casual work while establishing their own practices, step into the spotlight and present new works which explore FAC’s galleries, iconic building and colourful history with their unique insider knowledge.

Opening 6:30pm Wednesday 3 February, A Forest of Hooks and Nails is curated by FAC Install Coordinator Tom Freeman and features ten WA artists working across a variety of media including screenprinting, largescale installation, video and audio work, interactive displays, small sculpture, photography, painting and animation.

It is a quirk of all arts institutions that the people who work frenetically to create the polished, sophisticated exhibition experiences unveiled to the public are often unseen and transient, but they’re also the most intimately acquainted with the artworks and spaces.

A Forest of Hooks and Nails, a title which pays tribute to the constellation of hardware, nails and screws hiding behind artworks and peppering gallery ceilings, is unique in bringing these artists to the fore for a major exhibition which investigates Fremantle Arts Centre itself.

Some artists will shine a light on their favourite nooks, crannies and architectural features; others respond to past artworks they’ve had a hand in installing and to the materials and processes commonly used to construct, hang, display and light an exhibition.

Other will delve into the economy of work and labour in the arts industry while some investigate the building’s history and relationship with the Fremantle community.

Curator Tom Freeman conceived A Forest of Hooks and Nails during FAC’s 2020 shutdown as a means of supporting the team through a period of significant financial uncertainty.

“Each and every one of our install crew has a creative practice they’re deeply passionate about,” he said. “Conversations during tea breaks always circle back to our latest artistic pursuits and they reveal the depth of consideration the install staff give to each of the artworks and artists they work with here.”

“It’s inspiring and energising to have such close-contact experiences in the gallery and I’m excited to see how the artists channel that energy into their respective creative outputs to explore their relationship to the building itself, its history and FAC’s place in the community.”

“This Festival is an important moment to celebrate and to deepen understanding of all facets of creative work, especially in light of gallery shutdowns during 2020, which had serious impacts for casual arts workers – so many of whom are artists,” said Perth Festival Visual Arts Program Associate Gemma Weston.

“An exhibition is the tip of an iceberg of work that’s often invisible to the general public, and I think this project will be both a fascinating peek ‘behind the scenes’ and a very interesting look at the day to day realities of building a career as an artist.”

A Forest of Hooks and Nails features works by Dan Bourke, Phoebe Clarke, Angela Ferolla, Rob Kettels, Maxxi Minaxi May, Hugh Thomson, Phoebe Tran, Tyrown Waigana, Zev Weinstein and Hansdieter Zeh.

About the Works

Dan Bourke works as both an install and gallery officer at FAC and as such, he oversees the full run of an exhibition. He has created a video work which reflects on the data collected daily in galleries. His work provides a visualisation of the ways architecture and attendance statistics can influence the way exhibitions are presented.

Phoebe Clarke draws attention to particular architectural features at FAC and what they reveal of the building’s different uses over time. Selecting staircases, fireplaces and windows, Clarke’s textile interventions honour the simple and enduring silhouettes of the Gothic landmark. Gently moving, they are also a subtle reminder of the changes still to come.

Angela Ferolla is a long-term textiles tutor and install technician at FAC. Considering the humble work of clearing away the mess of process to present audiences with finished exhibitions and the historic parallels resulting from colonisation, Ferolla will screenprint the floor in one of FAC’s corridors with a carpet of plants which used to be endemic in Fremantle.

Rob Kettels’ works is in-part a response to a 2017 artwork by Andrew Sunley-Smith called Carbon Supremacy, which Kettels installed during his first stint at FAC. Sunley-Smith filled the gallery with charred objects in a critique of global consumption of fossil fuels. By filling the gallery with salt, Kettels’ focus is more local. The work reflects on the ways the WA minerals industry subjugates our landscape.

Maxxi Minaxi May takes one of the simplest tools in the install arsenal – the ruler – and aesthetically sizes up the gallery. Her small sculptures will be arranged in geometric patterns and lit to refract colour and shape around the galleries in a nod to the shifting nature of the building.

Hugh Thomson will construct large forms made of common install materials arranged in fastidious patterns. Visitors can create unique and random soundscapes by dropping ball bearings through the structures. Celebrating the moment when everything functions in harmony, Thomson allows both the outcome and the process to take pride of place.

Phoebe Tran blends her skills in textile manipulation and electronic music making, gathering moss and snippets of sound from around FAC to produce a multi-sensory installation which captures the peaceful moments before the action of install begins.

Tyrown Waigana will position paintings, sculpture and animations in inconsequential spaces and hidden nooks and crannies where private install moments take place, humorously reflecting on the stereotypical characters found in galleries.

Zev Weinstein will explore a family connection to Fremantle’s Rajneesh community, which was the focus of a 2017 FAC exhibition Orange: Sannyas in Fremantle. Weinstein combines photography, archive material and found objects in this personal installation.

Hansdieter Zeh’s largescale paper works, created using the process of decollage, will be pasted directly onto the gallery walls. Exploring the ways FAC’s architecture was originally designed to intimidate, Zeh proposes wiping the slate clean by making something from a space that’s been cleared.

*Perth curator and writer Melissa McGrath was commissioned to write about each artist’s works for the A Forest of Hooks and Nails exhibition catalogue. These excerpts have been adapted from her writing.

A Forest of Hooks and Nails is open daily from Thursday 4 February until Sunday 14 March and is presented in association with Perth Festival.

Media Enquiries: Andrea Woods | [email protected] | 08 9432 9564

Whether this is your first time to Bazaar or your tenth, we’ve compiled a list of all the tips you’ll need to make the most of your day at the market.

Download the Safe WA app before you leave home

From Saturday 5 December all visitors to Fremantle Arts Centre must register their contact details.

Download the SafeWA app before you leave home for the quickest entry. Then you’ll simply need to scan FAC’s QR code, available at the entrance, before you enter our grounds.

If you prefer not to use the app, speak to our gate staff to register your information.

Your contact details will be encrypted and stored for 28 days by the WA Health Department. They will only be used if COVID-19 contact tracing is required.

Download the SafeWA app in the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Card payments A-Okay!

Our payment stalls, front gate and all food vendors are fully equipped with EFTPOS and credit card facilities.

Entry is $2 per adult, kids under 12 are free. Have your change ready at the gate for speedy entry.

Pay for everything at once

Bazaar operates with a central payment system. Browse all the stalls, collecting dockets from stallholders as you. When you want to purchase something, go to the payment tent located on the South Lawn (past the bar and food trucks) and pay for everything in one go. Simple! Then take your docket(s) back to the stalls to pick up your goods.

Parking 

There’s limited free street parking on Finnerty, Ord and Vale Streets. There is also parking available on the vacant block of land on Burt street.

Additional paid parking is available across the road at Fremantle Leisure Centre.

Alternatively, get public transport. FAC is a short 10 minute walk from Fremantle train station with several bus routes stopping nearby. Head to the Transperth Journey Planner to find your best route.

Grab a Map 

Pick up a map at the gate to help you easily find specific stallholders, toilets, the payment tent, bar, food vendors and change rooms.

Search #FACBazaar on Instagram

Search the #FACBazaar hashtag for a sneak peek at all the amazing products you can expect to find at Bazaar and to follow stallholders you love.

We’d also love you to share your Bazaar experience with us. If you take any pics over the weekend be sure to tag us @fremantleartscentre.

Meet the makers 

There’s nothing better than buying direct from makers and artisans. Take the time to chat with the people who have made the things you’re coveting. They’d love to tell you more about their range and how their products are made.

Food & Drink Offerings 

There will be lots of yummy food to choose from to keep your energy up while you shop. Head to the South Lawn, behind our building, to find a selection of delicious meals from an array of food vendors and a fully stocked bar (opening 12pm Sat + Sun).

This year’s food vendors include: Paella on the Move (Friday night only), La Paleta, The Habibs, Box Pizza Co., Bollygood Spices, CANVAS café stall and CANVAS café.

We will also have a water station, so bring your refillable water bottle.

Entertainment 

There will be a kids activities tent located on the South Lawn. Plus our Kids’ Corner is open throughout Bazaar.

You can also check out our latest exhibitions, DesignFreo: Object, Space, Place and Watch this space! in the galleries and enjoy tunes from local DJs across the weekend.

Change Rooms 

Change rooms are located next to the toilets at the back of the building, just near stall 32.

Leave your dog at home

We love dogs but they’re not permitted within FAC grounds.

Treat yourself! 

Go on, you deserve it.

Bazaar runs 5–9pm Fri 4 Dec | 9am–5pm Sat 5 & Sun 6 Dec

Dylan and Carmen Ollivierre are The Money War, an esteemed songwriting duo from WA. Formed in 2016, The Money War’s success has seen them tour nationally with the likes of Meg Mac, Dope Lemon and Holy Holy. Neil Finn is a fan and even hand-picked them as his opening act on a recent Australian tour. In the lead up to this weekend’s Sunday Music, we caught up with Carmen to find out more about the band and what audiences can expect from this weekend’s gig.

Hi Carmen, can you tell us your introduction to music?

My dad tells me that he used to hold headphones up to my mum’s belly when I was in the womb, playing James Taylor to me. The JT thing continued throughout my entire childhood (some might call this indoctrination haha) and my dad used to play guitar to me as well. Surprisingly I still enjoy listening to his music! Dad started teaching me to play when I was about 12 and it went from there.

What has been your best gig/tour memory?

The whole tour that we did with Holy Holy in 2017 was awesome, it was our first time doing a really big support tour. We hired a van and drove for a lot of it. We drove from Hobart to Launceston and it was so beautiful, snow started to fall as we were driving! The shows were a lot of fun too and we played to some of the biggest crowds we’ve had – but overall it was incredible to see more of Aus that way.

You’ve just released your second album Morning People. What was the inspiration behind it?

 The whole album was basically inspired by our son, Jack. We began writing for this album around the same time we found out we were going to be parents. Naturally, we ended up with an album full of songs that delve into the emotions and the change in perspective that came with it. We didn’t plan for it to be a themed album but we always write about things that are going on around us. Some songs are still very universal in their message. A lot of people just hear more love songs, which I guess some of them are, they’re just love songs for our baby.

Everyone has a FAC story. What’s your favourite Fremantle Arts Centre memory?

I played here with my old band Warning Birds, I think it was actually an EP launch night back in 2013, it was such a great night. It’s actually a super weird coincidence, we played on the 29th of November, which is the same date as this show! And, we’re playing alongside my old bandmate Sam Carmody from Warning Birds.

What can we expect from your Sunday Music gig?

We’re playing with our full band, as a 5-piece. We’ll be playing some of our old faves as well as a bunch of new songs from the album for the first time. It’s also gonna be the first time our boy Jack gets to see us perform, he’ll probably sleep through it (he’s 4 months old).

Want to find out more about The Money War?

Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp.

Sunday Music runs 2–4pm each Sunday from Oct – Mar

Sunday Music is free and showcases the finest local musicians. Be sure to get down early as capacity is strictly limited. Sunday Music is possible thanks to the ongoing support of Bendigo Bank – Fremantle Community Bank Branch. 2020–21 is the twelfth year of the longstanding partnership.

Look at Fremantle through the lens of designers who live and create in the port city, in Fremantle Art Centre’s upcoming exhibition DesignFreo: Object, Space, Place.

Opening 6:30pm Friday 27 November, the work of some of WA’s finest designers brings into focus the significance of design in our everyday lives and its connection to place and community.

Experience objects, built forms and typography created by established and emerging Fremantle designers. Participants include architects and furniture makers as well as fashion, industrial, interior and graphic designers.

Object, Space, Place considers the design decisions we all make every day, the legacy our choices leave for future generations and the pleasure we can take in quality design. The installation in the Main Gallery draws inspiration from Fremantle’s common practice of domestic renovation and is occupied by six locally based designers. In other gallery spaces, works reference Fremantle’s vernacular architecture, signage and typography.

DesignFreo: Object, Space, Place curator Pippa Hurst is passionate about showcasing the works of local designers. “Fremantle is known as a creative hub and I want to shine a light on the talented designers that call the port city home,” she said. “This is a show about what they do, why they do it and how it can make your life better.”

Highlights of the exhibition include a DesignFreo signature room scent created by The Second Salon, which will subtly infuse the Main Gallery; spaceagency’s architectural transformation of the gallery as a home; and Becky Chilcott and Isabel Kruger’s playful exploration of typefaces as personalities.

Exhibiting Designers

spaceagency architects
Penhale and Winter
Becky Chilcott and Isabel Kruger
squarepeg home
Tiller Rides
Monster Alphabets Dilemma
Winterwares
Ohlo Studio and Remington Matters
The Second Salon

DesignFreo: Object, Space, Place is curated by Pippa Hurst, Fremantle-based communications designer and the founder of DesignFreo.

A full public program of talks and workshops will be announced on the FAC website in the coming weeks.

Media enquiries: Liz Walker
[email protected] | 08 9432 9565

Love Design and want to know more?

Visit Design Freo’s website and follow them on Instagram.

Fremantle Arts Centre’s Bazaar, Perth’s highest quality Christmas maker’s market, returns to the port city Friday 4 – Sunday 6 December.

In a year where buying local and supporting Western Australian industry has never been more important, Bazaar offers 50 local designers, artists and craftspeople the chance to showcase their wares and connect with the public at the three-day event.

Bazaar is more than a market, it’s a celebration of handmade, bespoke local craftsmanship. What sets Bazaar apart is the carefully curated selection of stallholders, ensuring all the products available are of the highest quality and WA designed.

Browse a range of the finest fashion, jewellery, textiles, ceramics, woodwork, toys, homewares, prints, stationery and more.

Held in Fremantle Arts Centre’s spacious grounds, under festoon lighting for the Friday evening session (5–9pm) and shady plane trees on Saturday and Sunday (9am–5pm), Bazaar is a relaxed and beautiful Christmas shopping experience.

Enjoy drinks from the bar and delicious food from a selection of food trucks as you shop.

Ceramicists Danica Wichtermann and Beste Ogan, who have shared a stall for many years, love Bazaar’s friendly vibe.

“Bazaar has a great buzz about it, especially on Friday night,” they said. “It not only has a beautiful space and atmosphere, there’s also an amazing selection of local handmade creations.”

Jewellery designers Kate Rae and Kerry O’Flaherty, who collaborate with their label k a : k e, said choosing where to spend your money has never been more important than in 2020.

“Give something with a local story, unique and designed and made to endure the test of time,” they said.

“Supporting local makers strengthens our community. It is a great feeling getting to speak to the maker directly and learn about the process and story. You know that these are special pieces, which are carefully created with a lot of love and joy.”

Bazaar runs 5–9pm Friday 4 December and 9am–5pm Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December.

Entry $2, kids under 12 free.

Stallholders

Alison Bullock |  The ANJELMS Project | Bedtonic | Belén Beganza | Black and Dawson | Blue Lawn Designs | Braw Paper Co. | Ceramics by Danica & Beste | Cirkus Charm | Claire Townsend Designs | CLAY CLOTH METAL | Convict | Crawlin Crocodile | Daniel(ink) | Deep Earth Ceramics | Dreaming Dog Studio | FOUND | Golden Whisk | Hammered Leatherworks / One Happy Leaf / Henryetta | iJewellery | Jewellers and Metalsmith Group of Australia WA Inc | Jewellery By Susannah & Ilka | Jodies Junk Art | Juluwarlu Artist Group | ka:ke | KIN SWIM | Kooky Glass & Resinate Artworks | Kor by Lisa Gardner | Kristin Magrit | Latasha’s Kitchen | Map Journal | Marion Cox | mbcollective | Megan Salmon | Miss Willow Designs | Mrs Potter Pots | Nagtzaam Timber | Penelope Brittain Jewellery | Philippa Gordon Ceramist | Pia Benett | Prints by Bow | Rick Knopke |  Rocucu | Semblance | Susie Marwick and Julie Excell | Tinctorium | Two Stories | UFFA Collective | Yuniko Studio

Media Enquiries

Please contact Andrea Woods
[email protected] | 08 9432 9564

Following confirmation that Phase 4 restrictions will remain in place for the foreseeable future, it is with great sadness that we announce this year’s Wardarnji has been postponed.

A celebration of Noongar stories, song and culture, Wardarnji attracts thousands of people to our South Lawn each year. Fremantle Arts Centre believes running the event at half capacity would drastically reduce the number of people able to celebrate this important Noongar festivity and therefore it will not take place in December as planned.

Regulations permitting, Wardarnji will return bigger and better in 2021 when we can all celebrate together safely.

Wardarnji Event Producer Karla Hart made this statement:

“With our Noongar people we have seasons where we enjoy things pertaining to that season. Sometime the season is early, sometimes it is late and sometimes it comes and goes quickly without much happening due to other things happening in the environment. As Wardarnji has become iconic in our community and is held annually at a particular time of year, this year the season of Wardarnji has been affected by COVID and because we wouldn’t want to hold an event where we would have to turn people away, we will wait until a season approaches where we can be free and enjoy it.

“Just like a quandong where we savour the taste and picking, let us look forward to savouring our memories of the sensations of Wardarnji when it comes back around for the next season. Woola!”

We look forward to Wardarnji’s return in 2021.

City of Fremantle is delighted to announce the appointment of internationally renowned arts leader Anna Reece as Fremantle Arts Centre Director.

Anna will bring her innovative, strategic and dynamic leadership style to FAC. With over 15 years’ experience across the Australian not-for-profit arts and cultural sectors, with a focus in major multi-arts festivals, Anna is highly respected for her commitment to commissioning new Australian work and leading capacity development across the sector.

Currently employed as Executive Producer at Perth Festival, Anna has played a key role in nurturing its artistic vision and creating the strategy for its implementation. Anna joined the Festival in 2014 to produce Perth’s most successful and memorable event The Giants in 2015 and upon departure she will have overseen the artistic and operational delivery of seven festivals, including managing production of unique events of scale such as Home, Boorna Waanginy and Highway to Hell. She has a notable track record for commissioning Western Australian works, and is a highly skilled producer most recently delivering Bunggul, the spectacular celebration of Yolgnu culture and Gurrumul Yunupingu for the Festival in 2020.

Anna is deeply committed to the development of a strong and vibrant arts ecology in and across Australia. One of her most significant achievements has been implementing Perth Festival’s unrivalled Connect program which works with communities, artists, teachers and organisations to contribute to a flourishing local cultural sector, for which she is a passionate advocate.

City of Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said “FAC is a vital and thriving part of the fabric of Fremantle. Beloved by the community, it’s also a leading model for arts centres around the country and I look forward to seeing its continued growth under Anna’s respected leadership.”

Manager Arts and Culture Kathryn Taylor said Anna stood out after a highly competitive national search. “Fremantle Arts Centre’s future is extraordinarily bright with Anna joining the team. She brings amazing, ambitious vision to the role and I’m confident she will nurture and build on FAC’s reputation for excellent, inclusive programming.”

“Fremantle Arts Centre is a focal point of the vibrant, progressive and innovative city that is Fremantle. It is such an honour to be given the opportunity to be a caretaker of this major Western Australian arts organisation,” Anna said.

“I’m thrilled to be leading FAC and the team into the next chapter, to make space for and create opportunities for new work, new collaborations and new models for the future.”

Prior to Perth Festival Anna was General Manager and Co-CEO of the Darwin Festival (2011 – 2014). She is a Board Director for the Chamber of Arts and Culture WA and Circuit West and the Chair of PVI Collective. Anna holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Production from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, is a member of the Atelier European Festivals Association alumni, a recipient of the Chief Executive Women Australia Scholarship for Emerging Leaders and is a graduate of the Australia Council for the Arts Leadership Program.

Anna will begin her role with FAC in March 2021.

Media enquiries: Andrea Woods
[email protected] | 08 9432 9564