APAM 2026 places Perth at the heart of Australia’s performing arts conversation

As hundreds of international delegates converge on Boorloo/Perth this month for the Australian Performing Arts Market, WA artists finally get to showcase their work on home ground

There’s something quietly revolutionary about the Australian Performing Arts Market decamping to Boorloo/Perth for the next five years. Not simply because it shifts the nation’s premier industry gathering 3,200 kilometres west – though geography matters – but because it fundamentally reimagines who gets to be at the centre of the conversation.

From 23-27 February, hundreds of presenters, producers and cultural leaders from across the globe will descend upon the Whadjuk lands during the Noongar season of Bunuru, converging with the final week of Perth Festival. It’s a confluence that executive producer Virginia Hyam describes with understated precision: “Two very different programs that complement each other day into night.”

For Western Australian artists, the stakes are high. Where previous APAMs required eastward pilgrimages – complete with the financial and logistical burdens that accompany any West Australian artist’s journey beyond the Nullarbor – this iteration invites the world to witness what’s been quietly fermenting in this geographically isolated corner of the continent.

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