Porter and Smith couldn t be reached for comment on whether the past partnership could be rekindled. Mayor Neil Holdom said the cancellation showed Taft made the right decision to pull out, and hoped it would be able to reconnect with Womad International and develop a plan for 2022.
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New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom is hopeful Taft and Womad International can restore the past relationship, so the trust can continue running Womad in New Zealand in the future. “That outcome will be the best for Womad in New Zealand and the best for Taranaki.” “We know they ve [Taft] got the magic, they know how to make it work, they ve got the support of the region.”
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Womad will not be coming to New Zealand in 2021. But Womad International are pinning their hopes on returning to New Plymouth in 2022.
After months of speculation about its future, the 2021 Womad NZ festival has been cancelled. Womad International director Chris Smith said they had been unable to secure a partner to run next year’s March event, but he was adamant the three-day festival would return to New Plymouth’s TSB Bowl of Brooklands from 2022. “We believe that the right place for the Womad experience is still its home of the last 20 years ‘The Brooklands Bowl’, New Plymouth,” Smith said in a written statement.