Perth Festival artistic director Anna Reece ready to watch city rediscover itself at Perth Festival 2026

Incoming Perth Festival artistic director Anna Reece was beyond thrilled when people started bringing their canine companions along to the cultural hub debut of East Perth Power Station this year. “When I started seeing dogs rock up to the power station, I was like ‘This is it’,” Reece says about her inaugural Perth Festival experience at the helm. “Perth really showed up. . . that’s ultimately the success of a festival, and it’s what I always aim for when I’m working on a festival. “You want people to come and gather and be together, not necessarily to see ticketed things, but to come together and be in this amazing space and see their city in this different light. To be really proud of it and want to share it with their dogs and their families and their neighbours. “We really set out to get a younger audience and a more diverse audience, and we did. “We got our youngest and most diverse audience.” As Reece promises more doggy bags and water bowls for the return of East Perth Power Station at Perth Festival 2026 — featuring free live music at Casa Musica, big-name ticketed concerts on the Main Stage, and Boorloo Contemporary First Nations art projected on the venue’s exterior — she admits she felt a level of terror over whether the decommissioned power station would work as a venue. It was a similar fear of public uninterest to the one Reece experienced while working as an executive producer of Perth Festival’s The Incredible And Phenomenal Journey Of The Giants that ended up flooding the city’s streets and spaces with crowds over three days in 2015. “I feel quite confident that people are going to come back to the power station now, because everyone loved it, and hopefully they’ll embrace it every year,” she says. “I do maintain that if you’re not a bit terrified in this job, there’s a problem. I think it’s a job where you’re accountable to so many different people and points of view and opinions. That’s the joy of the job, but it’s also the hardest thing about it. “So the big question for me has been ‘How do we hold on to and continue to build the ambition and the relevance of Perth Festival after the success and the shift that 2025 saw? How do you maintain that momentum?’ “I just really want Perth Festival to continue to grow its character, to grow its relevance and to grow its anticipation with the community.” Reece’s Perth Festival 2026 program features 13 Perth Festival commissions, 20 world premieres, and nine Australian premieres, showcasing art in all its forms by WA, interstate and international artists from February 6-March 1. Festivalgoers will have the opportunity to experience art in unexpected places, from St Mary’s Cathedral and Perth Town Hall to riverside locations and beneath the expansive night sky. “People come to a festival because of something that they want to see, but they leave changed by something they didn’t even know they needed to see,” Fremantle-raised Reece explains — the first WA-born artistic director in the festival’s history. “Perth Festival is delivering art that you want, but also art that you need. I ask myself all the time, ‘Who am I to determine what Perth people want to see?’ but ultimately, that is the challenge, that’s the privilege, that’s the job description.” Reece says the most successful festivals are created through a considered desire to bring people together, giving the example of Darwin Festival’s origin story, which started soon after cyclone Tracy as a way to ensure residents had a reason to stick around. “This festival was created by the university (of WA) to actively make Perth a great place for students, for the campus, for the community,” she says. “When there’s a deep intent there, that a festival is created for everybody rather than a marketing gimmick or to make some cash, then we’ve really got solid bonesm and that’s what sets us up so well. “I want people to feel joy, to feel a sense of hope, to feel cohesion, to feel curious and entertained. I think even if you see something that you really can’t stand, but you have a lot to say about it, that’s great.” As Reece turns towards 2026, and her second year in the Perth Festival hot seat, she is setting herself the goal of benig a bit more present with the rest of the city, citing 2025 as an out-of-body experience as she intently watched Perth respond to the festival. If you ever spot her in a big public environment, chances are Reece will be up at the back, taking it all in. “It’s my favourite thing to do, because a festival is ultimately about the whole experience,” she says. “I’m quite obsessed with that, be it Forrest Place and that huge dance spectacle, or watching people flow through the gates at East Perth Power Station, or how they enjoy St Mary’s Cathedral. I just love watching this city that I’m from rediscover itself.” Perth Festival is on from February 6-March 1. Program and tickets at perthfestival.com.au.