WOMADelaide has announced it will return to Adelaide’s Botanic Park for the festival’s 30th anniversary edition next year.
The festival, which began in 1992 as one of many global festivals set up by World Of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD), was both one of the last Australian music festivals to run in 2020 before the COVID shutdown and one of the only festivals in the country to successfully run in 2021. This year, the festival ran as a fully-seated four-day concert series, headlined by Midnight Oil and taking place at King Rodney Park instead.
Today (October 20), a statement from the organisers confirmed that the festival would return to its usual home of Botanic Park from 11-14 March, 2022.
Ian Scobie, the festival’s director, said that he was “delighted to confirm” the festival’s return, which will also see it revert to its “traditional multi-stage format in Botanic Park”.
“Over three decades, WOMADelaide has presented an extraordinary range of eclectic cultural experiences both on stage and throughout the lush surrounds of Botanic Park,” he continued.
“In the coming weeks we will reveal the first glimpse of the 2022 program, which will bring together past festival favourites and artists performing with us for the first time in a fitting celebration of 30 years.”
Scobie noted that although the festival would largely feature Australian artists due to ongoing border restrictions, attendees for WOMADelaide in 2022 “can still expect to discover the diverse, global music flavours for which WOMADelaide is renowned”.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall described WOMADelaide as “an iconic event that all South Australians are proud of” in his own statement, adding that the festival’s 2022 edition “will be a truly memorable occasion for artists and audiences alike”.