Fringe benefits: Climate protesters harness huge Perth festival crowds

This summer is bringing Perth's climate unrest to the boil as protest groups join forces to leverage crowds attracted by one of the world’s biggest fringe festivals as they launch high-visibility actions.

They disrupted the Fringe World launch on Thursday, held a bushfire vigil and protest march on Friday, followed up with a protest on Saturday and launched a month-long show called 1.5 Degrees live in which a rotating cast of artists will perform live readings of a seminal climate change scientific paper at the main festival hub.

Climate protesters disrupt the launch of the annual Fringe World festival at the Ice Cream Factory in Perth. Credit: Miles Tweedie Photography

After a string of UK galleries, festivals and theatres cut ties with fossil fuel companies, members of Woodside With the Climate recently mounted a letters campaign to Fringe chief executive Sharon Burgess, asking her not to renew Woodside’s principal sponsor role when it ends in 2021.

And on Thursday night at Perth’s Ice Cream Factory, a trio of member artists on Thursday briefly stormed the stage calling for Ms Burgess to respond.

“We call upon our glorious and supreme leader of fringe world Sharon Burgess to pull out of this allegiance with Woodside,” the trio of performers told the crowd before the MC wrested back control of the stage.

“Our art, my citizens, is being tarnished and supported as a multipurpose billboard for this corporation.”

On Friday evening, the School Strike 4 Climate group joined Extinction Rebellion WA to hold a bushfires community vigil at Perth Cultural Centre.

Volunteer firefighters and Noongar elders discussed the climate crisis and care for country, followed by a silent vigil and a silent procession through Northbridge led by traditional owners and the costumed protest troupe the Red Rebels, to “project an eerie silence into the festival atmosphere of Northbridge on the opening night of Fringe World ... both part of the evening’s entertainment and a resonant reminder of the tragedy constantly unfurling around us while we party.”

The protest concluded at the Woodside Pleasure Gardens, Russell Square, where a band launched free protest show 1.5 Degrees Live!  involving 40 volunteer Fringe World artists doing a 10-hour live reading of the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report every Thursday through Sunday night.

“We will be reading the most important document ever written on climate change, while a polluting corporation is paying to associate their business with the delights of the Fringe," performer Adam Bennett said.

The vigil in Northbridge on Friday evening. Credit: XRWA

“We love the Fringe World Festival. The time has come for all Australians to hear and understand the science better, so that we can demand a safe and sustainable future.”

And on Saturday, Uni Students for Climate Justice led a march through the Perth CBD in a follow-up to nationwide 'Sack ScoMo' protests that attracted more than 30,000 protesters in Sydney. They demanded the Prime Minister be sacked, that all firefighters be paid, that fossil fuel companies provide relief and aid to affected communities and that Australia rapid transition away from fossil fuels.

Woodside for the Climate argues that as the world’s third biggest fringe festival, Perth will not struggle to attract a new corporate sponsor, but a Fringe spokeswoman has previously declined to discuss the matter, saying producer Artrage was a not-for-profit and needed sponsors such as Woodside.

A Woodside spokeswoman has previously declined to discuss the campaign but more recently, chief executive Peter Coleman told an oil and gas conference the sector copped an unfair 'black eye' in the debate in the wake of the bushfires, that it wasn't the 'cigarette industry' and that Woodside needed to show it was serious about climate action.

Protesters in the CBD on Saturday. Credit: Marta Pascual-Juanola

In an interview with Bloomberg Mr Coleman revealed climate change had soared to top spot on the business risk list and was putting pressure on public perceptions, long term financing and talent acquisition.

Prime Minister Morrison has said any national inquiry into the fires will examine the impact of climate change, but declined to consider a stronger commitment to carbon emission reductions, saying Australia was already "meeting and carrying" its burden.

Taking an officially different tack, Fringe World will on Monday hold the bushfire benefit To the Bush, with Love: A very Fringey Fundraiser, with proceeds to World Wildlife Fund’s Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund, all performers and producers volunteering their time. Fringe World is donating the 650-seater Ice Cream Factory and all staffing plus $10,000 cash.

The benefit details. Credit: Fringe World