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Workshops
Festival-based workshops are a crucial component in the festival itinerary and attract vast numbers in their own right. Artists at the festival often lead the workshops in informal and intimate spaces. The Sunday procession continues to be a popular feature of the festie diary.
This year the workshops will be run by several of the most popular artists from the last decade culminating in a mammoth party. Familiar faces from past festivals are to include Other World Arts, Instant Music and the Masquerade Face Painters.
Workshops are structured around key programmes which includes master classes, open workshops and artist dialogues. Artists leading classes this year includes the Taiko Drummers, Mynta, Azanin Ahmad and Stree Shakti.
Further to the workshop plans the festival is hoping to provide a residency for two Aboriginal artists following in the footsteps of the the successful 1998 residency Ndebele artists from South Africa.
Aboroginal visual artist Mark Blackman and his musician/storyteller/playwright performance partner Robert Crompton have been invited from South Australia to provide the on-site visual arts focus for the festival.
Plans are afoot for the two artists to develop a piece of work which will be developed in the spirit of the Aboriginal tradition which touches on the deeply spiritual aspects of ceremony, identity, journeys and language. It is also hoped that Mark and Robert will be able to take part in a pre-festival programme of work with artist groups, schools and community groups.
Children's events
Womad has a reputation as a being one of the most child-friendly festivals with several themed events and areas geared towards children’s entertainment.
There are two children's tents (a 'quiet' and a 'loud' tent) with organised activities and workshops in painting, mask making, instrument making, t-shirt painting, face painting and much more.
Musical workshops give children an opportunity to meet and learn from artists playing at the festival.
A huge procession on Sunday (where children display the results of their tireless creativity - masks, lanterns, instruments, large scale structures, banners and flags) makes a spectacular impact on the final afternoon.
Other facilities for children include a creche, leisure centre swimming facilities, organised sporting activities for older children and a funfair (these are charged for separately).
