Joondalup Festival 2024

Joondalup Festival returns form March 2-22, 2024.

After winning Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event in the 2023 Australian Event Awards (beating out industry-leading events like Vivid Sydney and Adelaide Fringe) this kooky festival in Perth’s north has staked it’s place in the summer events calendar and this year it’s set to be a beauty!

This year’s Joondalup Festival highlights include Electric Kingdom - a menagerie of giant illuminated animals in a FREE light and sound extravaganza at Hillarys Boat Harbour, and ARETHA – a spectacular theatrical concert featuring Aretha Franklin’s iconic songs performed by Mahalia Barnes, Emma Donovan, Thandi Phoenix, Thndo and Karen Lee Andrews, with her life story narrated by Jada Alberts (Wentworth, Cleverman).

But we’re looking forward to something else in the program – a moving performance of Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours.

Awe-inspiring and site-specific, Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours is a dynamic and captivating performance of First Nations dance, storytelling, and contemporary circus, culminating in a living, breathing work of art against the backdrop of nature’s beauty.

Hear Aboriginal Elder Luther Cora’s interpretation of a simple story with a powerful message: while we may appear different, communicate differently, and have unique perspectives, at the core we share more in common than we have differences.

In this collaborative work from Arc Circus Co. and the Yugambeh Aboriginal Dancers, each performance of Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours will be unique, with the artists moving responsively to the unique open-air environment they find themselves in, celebrating ‘place’ and forging connections with the land, sea, sky, and one another.

Living Sculptures: How the Birds Got Their Colours is free to attend, with multiple performances at some of Perth's most stunning seaside locations:

Wed 13 March: 9am, Central Park, Joondalup

Fri 15 March: 8am, Sorrento Beach

Sat 16 March: 9am, Tom Simpson Park, Mullaloo

Tues 12 March: 6pm, Sir James McCusker Park, Iluka

Wed 13 March: 6pm, Central Park, Joondalup

Thurs 14 March: 6pm, Burns Beach Foreshore Park

Fri 15 March: 6pm, Sorrento Beach

Sat 16 March: 6pm, Tom Simpson Park, Mullaloo