Adelaide Fringe

WOMAD to continue with 4-day format

WOMADelaide

WOMADelaide organisers today announced that the four-day festival format – introduced as a one-off to celebrate this year’s 50th Adelaide Festival – is here to stay.

WOMADelaide Director Ian Scobie said the resounding success of the 2010 experiment and particularly the overwhelming support by patrons encouraged the decision to make the four-day format a permanent fixture.

“Not since the event became annual in 2003 have we had such a tremendously positive response and extending the festival to four days was an equally big leap of faith” Mr. Scobie said.

Attendances at the four-day festival were over 81,000 (a figure not including children under 12 years) representing a jump of 13% from the 2009 festival but with the four day format patrons experienced a significantly more relaxed tempo for the event.

The other exceptional statistic was that a record 50% of attendees travelled from interstate to specifically attend WOMADelaide 2010, highlighting not only the festival’s high national profile as a major event but also its significant tourism and economic value to South Australia.

Surveys estimated WOMADelaide patrons from interstate stayed 56,300 visitor nights and spent approximately $8.2 million (excluding tickets) in South Australia directly attributed to the event.

“When we first staged the festival in 1992 I doubt we could have foreseen the remarkable cultural, tourism and economic impact WOMADelaide would have on Adelaide, “said Mr. Scobie

In 2010 WOMADelaide hosted Ravi Shankar’s farewell Australian performance and since 1992, WOMADelaide has staged a celebration of the planet’s cultural riches, bringing to Australia some of the world’s greatest and most influential artists.

Whether it is honouring and preserving musical traditions from around the world or introducing audiences to new cultural influences and artistic innovation, the event is unrivalled as Australia’s premier outdoor festival of music, arts and dance.

WOMADelaide 2011 will be held from Friday 11 to Monday 14 March with the program announced in November.

http://www.womadelaide.com.au/

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