Festival Lab

Festival Lab is an annual program that encourages participants to deeply engage with the Perth Festival program. This is an opportunity for emerging artists from any discipline to link in with other emerging artists, experience the breadth of Festival offerings together and reflect on your artistic practice with an arts leader as your guide and navigator.

Over the next four years, the Lab will encourage cross-border collaboration and convergence by providing space for Western Australian practitioners to explore connections with peers throughout the Indian Ocean rim. The 2025 Festival Lab program and cohort will be guided by a Lab Navigator from the Singapore International Festival of the Arts, Director Natalie Hennedige. Read more about the 2025 Lab Navigator on this page.

For four weeks the Lab cohort will participate in critical discussions and workshops, meet visiting artists, producers and Festival staff, and forge new relationships with other practitioners in this intensive program. 

This curated program offers a space for inquiry and connection – an open invitation to learn and engage with no outcome expectations. Participants will also be granted an honorarium in recognition of your commitment to the program. 

How to apply

Expressions of interest are open NOW for the 2025 Festival Lab, please see below for key dates. Applications will be accepted from emerging artists based in Western Australia along with two spots held for artists based in Singapore.  

This opportunity is open to artists of all art forms who are new to a specific discipline or in an early stage of career development. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability and people who identify as culturally and/or linguistically diverse.  

Please get in touch if you require assistance with preparing your application or if you require information in a different format. 

Assessment criteria

Applicants will need to submit an online form, including support materials as examples of their artistic practice. Artists who are available during the entire Perth Festival period are strongly encouraged to apply. The expressions of interest (EOIs) will be assessed on: 

  • how the program will influence and benefit your creative practice 

  • interest in critical enquiry 

  • availability to participate in all Lab engagements 

Click to apply

Key dates

Wed 6 Nov | Expression of Interest (EOI) applications open 

Tue 26 Nov 9am | EOI applications close 

Mid-Dec | Application outcome notifications are emailed 

Mon 20 Jan | Meet and Greet (virtual) 

Early Feb – Sun 2 Mar | Festival Lab 2025 activities in-person and virtual 

If you have questions about eligibility or require assistance for the Lab EOI, please email Associate Producer – Connect, Margot Lane Strasburger. 

Each year, the Festival Lab cohort is facilitated by an established artist. This Navigator acts as a mentor and guide, aiding Lab participants in critical enquiry, discussions and engagement with the Festival program and visiting artists.  

We are glad to be drawing from the creative talent of our wider region to join the Connect program to our international neighbours. The Lab Navigator for Perth Festival 2025, Natalie Hennedige, will be bringing her expertise from the arts industry in Singapore to engage with Lab participants. 

Natalie is Festival Director of SIFA, Singapore International Festival of Arts (2022 – 25) Singapore’s pinnacle performing arts festival, and founder and Artistic Director of CAKE (since 2005), a contemporary performance company based in Singapore.  

SIFA presents captivating works across theatre, music, dance, film and visual arts, championing the creation and presentation of Singaporean and international works. CAKE is committed to seeding and engineering works and excursions that embody the experience of performance and art. Presenting progressive new works at the intersection of performance and other disciplines, CAKE continues to build a community of artists interested in contemporary modalities of process and transmitting information and ideas. With CAKE Natalie developed the Decimal Points and Running with Strippers platform, an exploratory space driven by engagement and dialogue with other artists.  

As a performance director and writer, Natalie explores contemporary issues through highly constructed worlds with collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. Her work has been presented in national and international venues. She is a recipient of the National Arts Council Young Artist Award (2007) and JCCI Singapore Foundation Culture Award (2010). 

More info

Banner image Katie West, We hold you close, 2022, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Natalie Hennedige image Sean Lee