WOMAD
What led to the move away from Charlton Park and what does the new location mean for the look and feel of the event?
When Chalton Park estate changed hands, and the son Alexander Howard [ the 22nd Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire ] took over, it became apparent that his agenda and ambitions for the estate were different to what we had enjoyed previously. With that in mind, and the changes in the industry – not least the financial challenges, Peter [ Gabriel ] saw it as an opportunity to review and refresh the festival. Finding a new space has been quite cathartic, it’ s been a really positive opportunity to take a fresh look at the event and begin a new chapter.
We ' re not going to use any of the same structures and we ' re not going to use any of the same stage names; it’ s literally a case of blank piece of field and off we go. The change has not been without its challenges, and I ' m sure there are more to come, but ultimately I think it ' s going to be a big success.
At Charlton Park you made great use of the features within the grounds to create unique elements such as the Taste The World stage in the arboretum. What will the new-look WOMAD layout involve?
The move has presented an opportunity to be more inventive, because we ' ll have fewer stages. There ' s a phrase we use,‘ festival creep’, which is when you have a show that continues to expand year after year until before long you ' ve got a festival that has increased in size and cost, and perhaps the core values have been diluted. We’ ve taken the opportunity to ask our audience what really matters to them, and they have responded with vigour; so that ' s been a really useful exercise. We will continue to introduce new things, like we did with the moon stage in the secret forest at Charlton Park, but rather than continuous growth we have a focus on continuous regeneration.
Chris Smith
BST Hyde Park
Aside from music, arts and dance, there is a real focus on food at WOMAD, will that continue?
Taste The World is a very good example of something that is now at the core of the festival, because it connects with WOMAD’ s cultural exchange and exploration theme. We ' re the only festival in the world that not only wants our artists to perform; we also want them to cook. That is very much part of the future and is something that ' s evolved as part of the show. In terms of the general food offering, we could be more commercially astute in how we curate our traders, but we would rather have the right traders with the right products than simply have the traders who offer us the highest financial return. That ' s arguably true of everything we do; we could definitely book more headline artists and possibly sell more tickets, but it would be counterproductive to the ethos of what WOMAD represents.
How much of an influence is Peter Gabriel having on the changes to WOMAD?
It’ s great when you have a hugely talented and famous musician at the heart of your show, as the owner. He ' s got involved
“ The move has presented an opportunity to be more inventive.”
in next year’ s WOMAD in a way that he hasn ' t for a while, and he ' s had a real influence on content. Peter is very keen for us to explore genres, including global hip hop and rap, and bring them into the programme. That’ s brilliant and will potentially address the challenges we all face around audience and demographic. There are lots of good ideas coming in from lots of different directions, but it will still be WOMAD, and those famous flags will still be fluttering.
As part of this new chapter for WOMAD, are you refreshing its programming and the team responsible?
We ' ve got some additional curation. We can ' t announce the details yet but there ' ll be another well-known UK based organisation, that has an international portfolio, which will be curating content across the site. Paula Henderson will always be our head of programming, but we will bring in curation from other sources just to keep it exciting.
You mentioned there will be fewer stages at next year’ s WOMAD, what’ s the strategy behind that move?
It means having fewer stages but also using them differently. For example, the Taste The World Stage will be reconfigured, with activity during the day and evening; when it is going to become the late night dance area. Previously, that stage stopped functioning at six o ' clock and then sat dormant. It ' s a matter of using the space differently but also dropping a couple of stages. That means there will be fewer performances, but we are investing the artists budget more thoughtfully and are going for quality rather than quantity.
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