WOMADelaide today welcomes the pre-election funding commitment from the Australian Labor Party to support three key strands of the festivals cultural, sustainability and programming development with a four-year program over 2020 – 2024.
The proposed funding will enable the establishment of the WOMAD Academy. A professional development program connecting emerging Australian artists from diverse cultural backgrounds with major Australian and international industry mentors, such as The Cat Empire’s Felix Riebl and John Butler who have both extended their support for the initiative.
Focused on all aspects of artistic career development, including on and off-stage music and technical skills building, The WOMAD Academy will see mentors and participants engaging in a series of workshops across a 12-month period, culminating in the opportunity to perform at WOMADelaide and one of three international WOMAD festivals.z
| The Cat Empire’s Felix Riebl, with cast members from Spinifex Gum |
| WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel highlighted the international scope of the academy and its advancement of often marginalised musical cultures. “When we set up WOMAD in 1982 and WOMADelaide in 1993 the aim was to give all great artists, regardless of race, culture or creed the best possible stage to perform on, to let their art speak for itself. I’m therefore really excited about this initiative to extend that philosophy by creating the WOMAD Academy for the development and evolution of young musicians.” said, Mr Gabriel “This initiative will mean that we can assist and mentor young musicians from the most diverse backgrounds to bring their work to our stages, both at WOMADelaide and at WOMAD in the UK and at our other locations in New Zealand, Spain, Chile and others.” The proposed Commonwealth funding will also enable WOMADelaide to undertake a systematic sustainability review to further reduce its environmental impact, implementing and proving event industry models which can be adapted across the festivals sector. Immediately, the funding will allow WOMADelaide to transition to the use of Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) Biofuel in onsite generators which will drastically reduce the event’s carbon emissions and demonstrate the viability of the use of WVO as a fuel for festivals and events. WOMADelaide 2020 will be celebrated from the 6 – 9 March, Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. For information and tickets visit www.womadelaide.com.au |
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