Cover Image: The future home of WAAPA: ECU City campus, set to open in 2026, will house cutting-edge performance venues and industry-leading training facilities. Photo supplied.

One of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts’ standout productions later this year will be former WAAPA graduate Eddie Perfect’s Tivoli Lovely, a new musical which honours Australia’s colourful theatrical past. 

“Tivoli Lovely was inspired by a desire to create a new work of music theatre that strengthens our connection with Australia’s theatrical past,” says Perfect. 

“As one who treads the boards myself, I feel proud to be a part of a rich, ongoing tradition that has provided art and entertained Australian audiences for generations… in writing Tivoli Lovely I hope to honour the ghosts of Australia’s extraordinary theatrical past, whilst celebrating our bright future with the next generation of performers.”

Tivoli Lovely is therefore emblematic not just of WAAPA’s own history, but of its future – and the past, present and future of the performing arts in Australia.

Since ancient times, the performing arts have made essential contributions to shaping culture and society. Whether as a vital means of individual creative expression and growth or of building community and fostering social cohesion, they help define what it means to be human.

Which makes the ongoing crisis in performing arts education internationally and within Australia all the more concerning. 

In the UK, there has been a nearly 50 per cent decline in public spending in the arts since 2010, leaving institutions dangerously exposed and many universities merging or shutting down music and theatre departments. Similarly, in the US a number of universities have all but eliminated arts and humanities majors.

Here in Australia, it’s no different. Between 2018 and 2025, at least 40 university creative arts courses have been discontinued. Institution such as Monash, QUT, Griffith and ANU have reduced or cut theatre, music and performance courses, some absorbed into broader creative industries or interdisciplinary schools.

This is why WAAPA’s success story is as extraordinary as it is welcome. Set to relocate from its Mt Lawley campus to the dazzling new hi-tech facility within the ECU City campus in Perth’s CBD in Semester One, WAAPA was established by the WA state government in 1980 and quickly earned a reputation for being one of the most comprehensive and effective performing arts institutions in the country. 

Its formidable list of alumni speaks for itself, among whose number are Hugh Jackman, Tim Minchin, Frances O’Connor, Lisa McCune, Eddie Perfect, Lucy Durack, Rachelle Durkin, Emma Matthews, and Jai Courtney. Its list of teachers and influential leaders past and present is no less impressive, including such luminaries as Richard Gill, Edward Applebaum, David Shirley, Glenda Linscott, Frances Barbe, Jonathan Paget, Tom O’Halloran, Andries Weidemann and Clint Bracknell. 

ECU City is the centrepiece of the Perth City Deal, a collaboration between the Australian Government, Western Australian Government and ECU, to deliver a world-class university to the heart of Perth. With a new home at ECU City, and support from an unprecedented $30 million philanthropic partnership with the Minderoo Foundation – the single largest such gift bestowed upon an Australian performing arts institution – WAAPA’s future is increasingly bright. The Minderoo Foundation gift will support the specialist fit-out of the new venues, including six new public performance theatres (a Recital Hall, Playhouse Theatre, Dance Theatre, Jazz and Contemporary Music Studio, and Flex Theatre) and two performance-capable rehearsal spaces, while also establishing an endowed fund for strategic programming and a Premier Visiting Artists program.

In the meantime, there are lots of exciting concerts, shows and other events to enjoy this year at WAAPA’s current home and choice venues throughout Perth. Indeed, just leafing through WAAPA’s 2025 program makes one’s head spin – there’s just so much going on, across so many different disciplines, genres and styles.

Classical, jazz (Afro-Cuban, Big Band, Bossa Nova and more), contemporary music, gospel, music theatre, world music, theatre and dance. Student showcases and collaborations with visiting artists. A hefty community engagement program which prioritises accessibility with numerous free concerts and workshops.

This breadth of performances and an unwavering commitment to student development and showcasing talent, as well as the engagement with prominent international and national visiting artists, speaks to WAAPA’s status as a world-class training ground for future generations of performing artists, offering practical experiences, a diversity of artistic perspectives and the opportunity not just to study under but to perform with the best of the best. 

And now, for your reading pleasure and edification, and at the risk of appearing invidious, here are eight must-see WAAPA events to put in your 2025 diary.

7 August 
The Richard Gill Award 

Richard Gill founded WAAPA’s Classical Music course in 1985 and this annual showcase features the six young Richard Gill Award finalists in recital.

15 August
Jazz Homecoming: Troy Roberts

Three-time Grammy nominated New York-based saxophonist Troy Roberts returns to his alma mater to gig with WAAPA’s Jazz students. 

29 August – 4 September
Antigone

Another of this year’s major productions, this is Sophocles’ Antigone as written and directed by Declan Donnellan with design by Nick Ormerod, joint artistic directors of internationally acclaimed UK theatre company, Cheek by Jowl, and performed by WAAPA’s graduating Acting students.

29 August – 4 September
Opera Double Bill: Cinderella by Pauline Viardot and Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini

With musical direction by Tommaso Pollio and directed by Emma Matthews AM, this operatic feast is performed by Classical Voice Students.

8 October
WAAPA Gospel Choir 10th Anniversary Show

Over the past decade, the WAAPA Gospel Choir has successfully blended traditional gospel with contemporary flair. This special anniversary concert showcases the choir’s innate energy, passion and spirit.

7 – 14 November
Tivoli Lovely

This nostalgic look at a slice of Australian showbiz history has been developed over three years at WAAPA with the graduating Music Theatre class of 2025. Directed by Dean Bryant (Dear Evan Hansen, My Brilliant Career The Musical), with music direction by Zara Stanton (Fangirls, Dear Evan Hansen), the show is Eddie Perfect’s first major Australian musical since Vivid White and Shane Warne The Musical.

13 – 19 November
Eden’s Farewell

A new play by acclaimed WA playwright David Milroy, his sixth play commissioned by WAAPA for its Aboriginal Performance program. 

19-27 November 
Echolocation

This site-based performance across WAAPA celebrates over 40 years of creativity and community, bringing together three distinct cohorts from WAAPA’s Bachelor of Performing Arts (BPA) programs in collaboration with Michael Barlow, Associate Director of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, creating a cast of 60 performers. A fitting farewell to ECU’s Mount Lawley campus with a series of intimate and evocative performances via the mediums of puppetry, dance, installation, film and more.

For full details of WAAPA’s remaining 2025 program and to book, see here.