Fremantle ignites over Easter

Added by Pat Williams on January 31, 2013

The City of Fremantle announces The Fremantle Street Arts Festival, showcasing street, outdoor theatre, music and comedy will run between Saturday March 30 to Monday April 1.

The Fremantle Street Arts Festival, since its inception in 1999, has become one of the largest Australian street festivals with an estimated 150,000 spectators following the world renowned acts of more than 30 international street performers.

“We are proud that the Fremantle Street Arts Festival is internationally recognised and consistently attracts the cream of the world’s street performing talent,” says Fremantle Mayor, Dr Brad Pettitt.

Bilbobassso, a French performance company, headlines the 2013 festival with a performance that combines flame work with Algerian tango in a performance called Polar.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing this amazing show to Australia for the first time. It is a refection of where the Fremantle Street Arts Festival is headed and a testament to the event that we are able to attract these world-class artists,” said Festival Director Alex Marshall.

Marshall said he became aware of Bilbobassso when he saw them performing during a rainy night in-front of a large audience on the Chalon dans la Rue in France.

While some performances are ticketed, the majority are ‘pay whatever you believe it’s worth’ – where spectators pay the performers whatever they think the entertainment was worth.

The festival includes 20 street theatre, comedy, music, and circus performance companies, 13 of which are international from countries like France, Belgium, Canada, Japan, and the UK.

The festival reportedly generated AU$3.7m for the local economy in 2012.