Womad New Plymouth is planning to crack down on camping chairs
TARYN UTIGER
Womad New Plymouth is planning to crack down on camping chairs.
Organisers of three-day music festival have received a number of complaints about camping chairs blocking views at various performances at Womad, which is held in New Plymouth’s TSB Bowl of Brooklands every March.
As it turns out, there’s always been a no camping chairs rule, but people haven’t been following it, Taranaki Arts Festival Trust chief executive Suzanne Porter said.
“We’ve always said no camping chairs – it’s even printed on the tickets, but it’s something that hasn’t been policed in the last few years,” Porter said.
Porter said this year’s post-festival survey had shown an increase in those who had an issue with the camping chairs, so action had been taken. However, sand chairs, which are lower than camping chairs, would still be allowed, she said.
The festival team announced the new enforcement on social media last week, and while many praised the decision, not everyone was happy.
Some said the decision was “stupid” and “ridiculous”, with one saying it would “alienate the oldies who can’t get up and down easily on sand chairs”.
“It is hard to please everyone in these sorts of instances. We’re monitoring the responses we’re getting on Facebook and taking note of the feedback against the policy. This decision is open to debate and we are happy that we’re getting varied responses in regards to the issue.”
Porter said if the ban was enforced there would still be a number of other options for people, including sand chairs.
“And we have the TSB Bank viewing platforms at our three main stages for over 65s. There is also an abundance of chairs in the global village food court and a number of areas with seating across the site.”
She said the Womad team was constantly seeking to improve the experience for festival goers and any feedback was taken seriously.
“I as chief executive read every comment and then we look for strong themes, issues and concerns coming through. We think debate is good and we want to keep our conversations going with our audiences,” she said.
Another change in the pipeline for Womad 2017 is that water in plastic bottles will no longer be sold on-site. Instead, the site will feature up market public water fountains.
“We’re also offering pre-wrsitbanding for all ticket types, and we’ve got some new site design pieces,” Porter said.
The full line-up for Womad 2017, set to be held on March 17 to 19, will be announced on October 18.
Three-day early-bird tickets go on sale on August 22, while the ezipay tickets are already available.
“We’ve had over 70 people sign up to the ezipay option, it seems to be growing in popularity each year,” Porter said.
“We get a variety of people – some paying off their own tickets, others paying off bundles of tickets for Christmas or birthday presents.
“We’d like to see more uptake of the ezipay option, it makes Womad affordable for everyone. It works out to be $6.68 a week if payed over 40 weeks for a three day ticket.”
– Stuff