WOMAD NZ 2022 Festival Proceeding In March

Now's a turbulent time for our live events industry (to put it mildly), as Aotearoa's gig community grapples with the tight restrictions and resultant knock-on effects that came along with last week's shift to Red under our new traffic light system. While numerous high profile local festivals have been thrown off course by this dismaying round of Omicron-related developments, the WOMAD NZ team have announced they "are proceeding ahead with extreme caution as we continue to work towards WOMAD 2022". Here's their full statement...

"With Omicron now out in the community and New Zealand in RED, there are severe implications for any event trying to proceed as planned in the current environment.

WOMAD NZ is proceeding ahead with extreme caution as we continue to work towards WOMAD 2022, 18-20 March, as are the few remaining festivals and events scheduled to present in the next 2-to to three months.

WOMAD NZ is working with local, provincial, and national agencies and will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as necessary.

Our team has dedicated well over a year to bringing WOMAD back for all our festivalgoers, artists, sponsors and partners, suppliers, volunteers and crew.

It will be heart-breaking if we cancel this close to presenting, with so much hard work and ongoing support from so many people to get us to this point. This situation is entirely out of our control, but the community's safety is paramount.

WOMAD NZ would not have been able to get this far without the support of the New Plymouth District Council and the underwrite approved by the council to help TAFT produce WOMAD 2022 here in Taranaki.

We are grateful that insurances have been put in place by the government to protect the events and festival industry to some degree. The Events Transition Support Payment scheme (ETSP) requirements mean we won't have a final decision until 18 February if the festival can proceed.

If the event does cancel due to COVID, all tickets for WOMAD 2022 will automatically roll over to WOMAD NZ 2023, which takes place 17 - 19 March 2023- Nothing changes, and all tickets will remain valid and at the 2022 prices! If festivalgoers cannot make our 2023 dates, refunds will be available through our ticket outlet Ticketspace.

We want our community to take care, and we advise anyone who feels unwell to please get tested and stay home."

Chris Smith WOMAD UK & Suzanne Porter – CEO Taranaki Arts Festival Trust

WOMAD NZ 2022

Friday 18th March to Sunday 20th March - New Plymouth, TSB Bowl of Brooklands, Pukekura Park

Musical lineup featuring... Shades of Shakti, Fat Freddy's Drop, Deva Mahal, Avantdale Bowling Club, Topp Twins, Salmonella Dub, Ria Hall, Hollie Smith, Fly My Pretties, Acopollinations, Bobby Mukai (DJ), Carnivorous Plant Society, IPU Kodama Japanese Drum Team, Latinaotearoa, Lord Echo (DJ), Niko Ne Zna, SWÂMP THÏNG, Weird Together, Yaw Asumadu and Ozi Ozaa, Dream Chambers, Ge Luz, Le Moana, Muroki, Mazbou Q, Tierra y Mar Flamenco Project, Rubi Du, TUi MAMAKi, Whirimako Black

OMV STEAM Lab speakers include... Dick Frizzell, Frances Valintine, 4Phase Games with Morgana Watson, Phil Lester, Dr Siouxsie Wiles, Peter Lynn Kites with Peter Lynn & Craig Hansen, Hinke Osinga

World of Words speakers include... Anna Fifield, Behrouz Boochani, Jacqueline Bublitz, James Nokise, Ken Arkind, Rose Carlyle, Te Karere Whitiao Scarborough, The Casketeers (Frances & Kaiora Tipene), Tom Sainsbury

Tickets + more info available at womad.co.nz