Womad NZ has confirmed its 2022 dates after securing a NZ$1.9m (£980,000/€1.1m/$1.4m) underwrite from the regional council, providing insurance for the three-day festival if COVID-19 forces it to be cancelled again.
The New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) said the safety net would be available for five years through to Womad 2026, recognising the festival’s NZ$6m economic contribution to the local economy.
The funding would only be able to be issued in the event of a pandemic-related cancellation – such as changes to government alert levels.
Organisers of the event, the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (Taft), confirmed new dates for the event just 24 hours after the funding was secured.
New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park will host the world music, arts and dance festival from March 18 to 20.
Womad International director Chris Smith said, according to Stuff: “2021 was such a difficult year around the world, but this partnership agreement has been central to the decision to bring the festival back in 2022.”
Smith also said the organisation was planning to deliver an international line-up, as well as “the richly diverse talent already here in New Zealand.”
Elsewhere, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound has announced it will return in 2022 with a bumper event taking place across two weekends for the first time in its history.
The festival, which has been cancelled twice due to the pandemic, will take place on June 2-4 and 9-11 2022, with differing line ups for each weekend.
Ticketholders have been given the option of upgrading their tickets for the 2022 event to cover both weekends, costing an additional €195, or choose which weekend they would prefer before May 31.
The full line-up has already been announced, with headliners including Tame Impala, Dua Lipa, Massive Attack, The Strokes, Lorde, Gorillaz, Jorja Smith and Tyler, the Creator, among 400 others.
Image: York Tillyer / Attribution 3.0 Unported / Edited for size
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