The Perth International Arts Festival returns bigger and better, with a world-class line up of artists from around the globe.

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PIAF kicks off this evening by transforming Kings Park into a luminescent installation of indigenous imagery and a truly Australian soundscape with Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak.

Hundreds of thousands of festival-goers are expected to share in the superb array of art, theatre, music and more over the next 24 days.

Perth will be treated to an exclusive piece of theatre from Tony Award-winning playwright The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family. Hailed as a new American classic, this play is an intimate encounter with an ordinary family trying to make sense of a fast-changing world.

South Africa’s singing and dancing Vuyani Ensemble and Gregory Maqoma will join in a ritual embrace paying homage to the resilience of Maqoma’s Xhosa chief ancestor in Exit/Exist.

Artistic Director Wendy Martin says themes of migration, reconciliation and empathy run through the veins of this year’s festival.

“Festival time is an antidote to our age of anxiety, disruption and the retreat into isolationism, tribalism and nationalism,” Martin says.

“A Festival is a celebration, a moment to gather together in a safe and inspiring environment. We invite you for the next three weeks to be challenged, surprised and entertained.”

The longest running annual multi arts celebration in the Southern Hemisphere has much more to experience this year, including Back to Back Theatre’s Lady Eats Apple, live music & animation show Flit, and Russia’s influential Dmitry Krymov Laboratory will perform the visceral and majestic Opus No. 7.

The Perth Writers Festival will feature writer and activist Nakkiah Lui, queer Nigerian-American author Chinelo Okparanta, Syrian architect Marwa al-Sabouni and many more incredible talents.

In film, the Lotterywest program brings an array of indie wonders including Kristen Stewart’s Personal Shopper, Irish coming-of-age story Handsome Devil and Isabelle Huppert in Things To Come.

The foreshore will be taken over by the Chevron Festival Gardens, which will host the best in contemporary music from Toro Y Moi to Warpaint, Explosions in the Sky, El Guincho, Aristophanes and many many more.

Perth International Arts Festival runs from Friday February 10th until Sunday March 5th. For more information and the full schedule, visit perthfestival.com.au