Opening celebrations
Perth Cultural Centre
Saturday 21 – Sunday 29 November
All WA Museum Boola Bardip entry tickets for 21 – 29 November have now been allocated to the successful ballot entrants.
However, there is still a lot to see and do in the Perth Cultural Centre during the opening celebrations – no ticket required!
View map of Perth Cultural Centre
Upcoming activations
ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (AGWA)
Saturday 21 – Sunday 29 November | Various times
To celebrate the opening of the Museum, the Art Gallery – including the Shop and Frank Café – will extend their opening hours until 7pm on the following days:
- Saturday 21 November
- Sunday 22 November
- Friday 27 November
- Saturday 28 November
- Sunday 29 November
FREE
Guided Tours
21, 22, 28 & 29 November | 11am, 12pm, 1pm & 2pm
Explore some of the works on display from the State Art Collection with one of our Voluntary Gallery Guides, offering that extra insight and revealing glimpse into the artwork, the era and the artist.
FREE
Kindling Creative Screen Printing: An image speaks 1,000 words | $10
Saturday 28 & 29 November | 10am – 3pm
Join Kindling Creative for screen printing fun outside the Art Gallery's main entrance.
Screen printing using hand cut paper stencils is a traditional process that masks some areas and reveals a design using negative space. The result is a bold image which tells a visual story where an image speaks a thousand words. What's your story? How will you share it with the world?
Grab a tote bag and print your own souvenir of the historic opening of the new WA Museum Boola Bardip!
Suits all ages and abilities. Drop in only, no bookings required. $10 per bag.
FAMILY ACTIVITY
BARKING GECKO THEATRE
HOUSE-making Workshop | Family art workshop
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November | 5 x 45-minute workshops
State Theatre Centre Courtyard
Session 1: 10am – 10.45am
Session 2: 11am – 11.45am
Session 3: 12pm – 12.45pm
Session 4: 2pm – 2.45pm
Session 5: 3pm – 3.45pm
Perfect for children big and small, create your very own house-shaped work of art.
Led by teaching artists, your house will then be left with the Barking Gecko Theatre team to form part of their upcoming theatre experience, HOUSE, in early 2021!
To guarantee a place, register through Barking Gecko’s website.
FREE | TICKETED | FAMILY ACTIVITY
CITY OF PERTH – CHRISTMAS LIGHT TRAIL
Friday 20 November – Monday 28 December | 6pm – 11pm
James Street Mall, Perth Cultural Centre
The Perth Cultural Centre kicks off the Northbridge leg of the 2020 Christmas Lights Trail.
At stop one, you will find the Rusty Holden Ute – right out of the classic Aussie Christmas jingle – parked outside the Museum. Meanwhile at stop two, take a photo with the Cheeky Cockatoo perched on a branch in the heart of the Cultural Centre.
View the full trail online on Visit Perth's website.
FREE
PERTH INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS (PICA)
Forest of Voices by Olga Cironis | Exhibition
PICA opening hours
Forest of Voices by leading West Australian artist Olga Cironis is a sound installation work composed of fragments of private intimate conversations – whisperings of desires, love, pain, loss and fear.
Cironis invited people from diverse communities to anonymously share their personal experiences and stories of love. Forest of Voices presents a timely reflection on shared vulnerability and the possibilities contained in social acts. These collective voices encourage us to listen to ‘others’ and urges us to stop, breathe and connect.
FREE
Refracted Reality | Exhibition
PICA opening hours
Refracted Reality, curated by Perth-based curator and artist Anna Louise Richardson, offers a selection of ten artists and collaborations whose works are the medium through which ideas pass and bend, echoing questions of privacy, representational fictions in a post-truth era and a renewed interest in both the intimacy and constrictions of interior space in the wake of mass self-isolation.
FREE
SMASH IT by Brook Andrew | Video
PICA opening hours
SMASH IT draws its title from the artist’s practice of agitating colonial archives in order to subvert and rewrite dominant narratives of the past. In its polyphony of voices and materials, SMASH IT draws attention to historical events that have occurred in different places and times and their contemporary legacies, connecting traumatic histories in Australia with international experiences and discourse.
FREE
Guided Exhibition Tours
21, 26, 27 & 28 November | 6pm – 6.30pm
Engage in lively and thought-provoking conversation about contemporary art, in special 30-minute guided tours of Refracted Reality and Forest of Voices.
FREE
PERTH MESS HALL
Museum Street Social – Urban Beer Garden and Family Fun in a DINO-hall!
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November | 11am – midnight
Dinosaurs have taken over the Perth Mess Hall for the Museum's final opening celebration weekend!
Perth Mess Hall is being transformed into a dinosaur haven and urban garden serving local craft beer and cider from Gage Roads.
This family-friendly event will have plenty of space for the kids to play, with children's entertainment featuring Freedom Fairies, games and much more.
Plus, learn about the history of our building with a temporary installation from the Army Museum of Western Australia and catch a glimpse of our ferocious T-Rex guards!
FREE | FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
PICABAR
Daily | 11am – midnight
Tuesday $5 schooners
Thursday $25 burger & pint
Enjoy some of Western Australia's finest beer and wine, Museum-inspired cocktails and one of the best steak sandwiches in town.
SPARE PARTS PUPPET THEATRE
The Last Numbat | Interactive performance
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November | 5 x 30-minute performances
Amphitheatre
Set 1: 10am – 10.30am
Set 2: 10.50am – 11.20am
Set 3: 11.40am – 12.10pm
Set 4: 1.10pm – 1.40pm
Set 5: 2pm – 2.30pm
What if you thought you were the last of your kind?
The Last Numbat is a large-scale, interactive performance installation that uses puppetry to explore connection with each other and the sustainability of our natural environment.
Suspended from a five-metre high truss, the large-scale numbat marionette is controlled by ropes by twelve participants. Audience participants learn how to manipulate the puppet together to tell the story of The Last Numbat.
FREE | FAMILY ACTIVITY
STATE LIBRARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (SLWA)
Futurescape | Activity-based installations
SLWA opening hours
What will our future city look like? Where will people live? How will they get around and what will they do for fun?
Futurescape is a series of activity-based installations encouraging you to imagine Perth’s future. Designed in collaboration with Elliot Langdon and Tom McKendrick, creators of the book Built Perth, these activities are especially designed for children.
FREE | FAMILY ACTIVITIES
Creating Perth | Exhibition
SLWA opening hours
This exhibition reveals the many layers of our city’s history, exploring the ways visions of Perth – both compatible and contested – have shaped this landscape.
Created with photos, paintings, maps, videos and stories from the State Library, State Records Office and community loans.
FREE
STATE THEATRE CENTRE COURTYARD
Chill out area
Saturday 21 – Sunday 29 November | 10am – 5.30pm
Located behind Chi Cho Gelato, this open space has seating and a universal access bathroom for those looking to recharge.
FREE
The Courtyard Club – Perth Theatre Trust & RTRFM
Friday 27 November | 5pm – late
The perfect place to start your weekend. An all-ages event, experience live radio and local music for free.
On Friday 27 November, Little Lord Street Band & Lincoln McKinnon and the Wrecking Train – DJ Rhian Todhunter (Out To Lunch) take over the stage.
FREE
WAM TUNES
Kick back and relax as West Australian Music (WAM) showcase live, local music from the Cultural Centre’s Wetlands.
SET TIMES
Friday 20 November
5pm – 5.45pm: Sarah Strahan
6.15pm – 7pm: Alex Hardy
Saturday 21 November
12pm – 12.45pm: Tess Dwyer-Long
1.15pm – 2pm: Michael Dunstan
Sunday 22 November
12pm – 12.45pm: Minky G
1.15pm – 2pm: Ben Catley
Friday 27 November
5pm – 5.45pm: Henry McInnes
6.15pm – 7pm: Ornella
Saturday 28 November
3pm – 3.45pm: Michael Day
4.15pm – 5pm: Siobhan Cotchin
Sunday 29 November
3pm – 3.45pm: Kaidan Penny
4.15pm – 5pm: Queency
FREE
Past activations
ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (AGWA)
Long Table | Discussion
Saturday 21 November | 12pm – 2pm
Join a special Long Table discussion presented as part of the I want a future that lives up to my past: David McDiarmid and local queer stories display for PrideFEST.
The discussion format borrows from the idea of a dinner table as a way of generating public conversation. The Long Table allows voices to be heard equally and invites members of the public to join in.
Focusing on epidemics, hardships, community, strength and survival of the local queer community, the invited panellists will discuss the context of 1980s and 1990s Perth.
FREE
ETSY MADE LOCAL MARKETS
Saturday 21 – 22 November | 10am – 4pm
Central Plaza, Amphitheatre & Museum Plaza
With over 50 independent stallholders, Etsy Made Local is an annual market event that promotes WA-based artists and designers.
FREE
PERTH MESS HALL
Urban Beer Garden & Family Fun – Museum Street Social
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 November | 11am – midnight
Perth Mess Hall is being transformed into an urban beer garden with pop-up bars serving local craft beer and cider from Gage Roads. This family-friendly event will have plenty of space for the kids to play, with children's entertainment, games and much more.
Have you ever wondered why there's a limestone fortress on Francis Street? Perth Mess Hall will also be teaming up with the Army Museum of Western Australia to offer you a glimpse into the military past of their iconic building.
FREE | FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
PERTH INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS (PICA)
Many Voices: Stories of Love and Connection | Event
Saturday 21 November | 2pm – 4pm
To celebrate the opening of the new WA Museum Boola Bardip (Many Stories), project participants whose voices are included in the Forest of Voices exhibition are invited to share their stories with the public in conversation with artist Olga Cironis.
FREE
PICA After Dark Special Edition | Event
Thursday 26 November | 5pm – 8pm
This special edition of PICA After Dark will feature A Window into Love – a conversation with exhibiting artists Max Pam, Bruce and Nicole Slatter, and Olga Cironis, with guest curator Anna Louise Richardson and PICA Curator Sarah Wall.
Hear about their work and art practices through the lens of love, connection and memory, then stay for drinks, live music and a reveal of PICA’s exciting program of exhibitions, performances and events for 2021.
FREE
START FRESH MARKETS
Wednesday 25 November | 11am – 6pm
Central Plaza
A collaboration between North Metropolitan TAFE and Perth Theatre Trust, this is a new kind of farmers market.
Convenient and accessible, this market celebrates WA's rich resources and shopping locally.
FREE