Woodside parts with Fringe organiser

A decision by Woodside Energy not to renew its partnership with Fringe World Festival organiser Artrage has been claimed as a win by an arts organisation pushing for a “fossil fuel free” festival season.

Fossil Free Arts, which represents artists and activists, has run a multi-year campaign to remove fossil fuel producers from involvement with the Perth Fringe Festival.

Woodside had previously had naming rights over Fringe but moved away from its sponsorship of the festival in 2021 under a new partnership, which allowed the not-for-profit Artrage to run a philanthropy program to better balance its income portfolio.

Business News understands the decision not to renew the partnership was made by Woodside, after its previous agreement expired in mid-September.

But Fossil Free Arts claimed Artrage had ended its partnership with Woodside following continued pressure from artists, who it said were unhappy to be associated with fossil fuel companies.

Campaign leader Anthony Collins labelled Woodside’s departure a win for the state's arts community, following on from the end of an 18-year association between Chevron and Perth Festival in mid-2023.

“When we all sat in a room together five years ago to set this goal of kicking these huge companies out of our biggest festivals, I’m not sure how many of us thought we would actually achieve this,” Mr Collins said.

“I would urge others to draw inspiration from what we have done and call out the promotion of fossil fuel extremists.”

The value of the partnership has not been disclosed.

A Woodside spokesperson told Business News the organisation had a strong record of community engagement.

“Woodside is proud to be a global energy company, supplying the oil and gas that the world needs and working to develop new energy products,” they said.

“As a global energy company with domestic and international operations, we are proud to be part of the diverse communities in which we work.

“We recognise the importance of our role in delivering mutual and sustainable social outcomes in the communities we are part of. We've built genuine, long-term relationships with our stakeholders and host communities over more than three decades.”

In a statement, Artrage chief executive Jo Thomas said the not for profit was thankful to Woodside for its past support, and indicated the philanthropy program would continue past the end of the partnership.

“In regard to the recent conclusion of our eighteen-month philanthropic partnership with Woodside, we wish to acknowledge the positive contributions made during this collaboration,” she said.

“We extend our gratitude to Woodside for the significant investment in establishing the philanthropic program, and we look forward to the promising future the program holds.”

Fringe Festival starts on January 19 and runs to February 18, partially overlapping with Perth Festival, which runs from February 9 to March 3.