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While winter is often the time when we retreat indoors, the City of Fremantle is enticing us to part ways with our doonas, dressing gowns and Netflix binges to join a celebration of culture and community.
With stately historic buldings lining the streets, Fremantle offers many hidden nooks and crannies to settle in during the winter and relish heartening food, sip steaming tonics and swap tales and melodies by the fire.
Fremantle Festival: 10 Nights in Port will celebrate all things uniquely Freo: contemporary music, theatre, visual arts, film and live performance.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt highlights that the program features projects by local and international artists which are one-off, site specific or participatory.
“Spread across Fremantle’s precincts, 10 Nights in Port takes into consideration the traditions of the local community and the character of the historic city. Each component of the festival is carefully woven out of the fabric of this place,” he said.
From large-scale participatory masterpieces to immersive experiences and a number of WA premieres, the program consists of a series of carefully curated events that will warm the soul and enliven the senses.
Between shows, audiences can take a "Soak" in a series of outdoor relaxation stations, where they can submerge and unwind or warm themselves by one of the many Festival Fires dotted around the city.
The festival officially kicked off at the weekend, but there is still plenty to see and do before it ships off on Sunday.
Get a taste of what is on offer below!
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Glass Houses and Green Futures
On now - Thursday 18 July
Free
Glass Houses & Green Futures is a celebration of the horticultural knowledge and passion that exists across Fremantle. Conversation and cultivation will take place in five artist-built hothouses, led by the artists and gardening enthusiasts who keep Fremantle green, growing and blossoming.
Fired Up
Raku firing & hot drinks: Saturday 20 July
Free
Fired Up is a participatory community project that reflects on what can happen when one master shares their skills among many students. Join some of Fremantle’s best loved ceramicists to learn about ancient and contemporary pottery traditions and to work with clay and firing kilns. Beginning with a series of public workshops, each ceramic form will then be placed into the fire to be hardened and cured.
Hidden Treasures
Thursday 18 & Saturday 20 July
Ticketed
In its ninth year, Hidden Treasures treats WA music fans to an earful of Freo balladeers, freshly-minted local bands and some favourite heroes of the Port City stage. This series of gigs offers a rare peek into some of the West End’s most evocative and tucked-away workers’ clubs and small venues, which are steeped in the tall stories and big sounds of Fremantle’s musical folklore.
Future Treasures
Wednesday 17 July
Ticketed
Defending Fremantle’s reign as a hotbed of musical experimentation, countless new bands and an exporter of locals-made-good, Future Treasures readies the stage for some of the pluckiest young performers around. Support the growth of the local scene, sweat out some moves and feast your ears on the freshest tunes at this hot-off-the-press warehouse showcase.
Wowzzzeee
Friday 12 - Sunday 14 July & Tuesday 16 - Sunday 21 July
Free
Winging in from the international clothing circuit, Wowzzzeee has come to roost amidst Fremantle’s illustrious and longstanding fashion glitterati to bring you this participatory, thought-provoking performance. The Wowzzzeee installation takes the form of a garment factory, in which audience members will be invited to MAKE or BUY as they interact with the space.
The Miss Behave Gameshow
Friday 12, Saturday 13, Thursday 18, Friday 19 & Saturday 20 July
Ticketed
The Miss Behave Gameshow lands for the first time in WA in a perfect storm of prizes, disco and conundrums. Direct from her sold-out seasons in Las Vegas and Sydney, London cabaret queen Amy Saunders (La Soiree, La Clique) hosts this part-gameshow, part freewheeling, high-energy variety whirlwind. Be intoxicated by Amy’s special brand of glittering chaos as you navigate her non-stop games and hilarious capers.
View the full program here.
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