Peter Gabriel has announced that his WOMAD festival is “officially back” with a new location.
WOMAD, which stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance, was founded by Gabriel in 1980 with the aim of spotlighting an eclectic mixture of genres. Since then, the festival has travelled to 27 countries across the world, while the main UK event has taken place in Charlton Park in Wiltshire since 2007.
Last year, Gabriel announced that WOMAD would take a break in 2025, before returning to a new location for 2026. At the time, he explained that the festival was “re-evaluating, regenerating and reinvigorating” after facing challenges post-COVID.
Now, he’s revealed that the 2026 edition will be held at Neston Park, Corsham, Wiltshire, on July 23-26.
“I’m delighted to say that WOMAD is officially back,” Gabriel said in a statement today (October 30). “We’re back and in a beautiful new home; Neston Park near our own base in Real World Studios.
“We have looked at many wonderful sites around the country, but when we learned that Sir James and Lady Venetia Fuller were keen to open up their beautiful estate and host WOMAD, it immediately felt to us like a warm and welcoming home into which we could sink our roots,” he continued.
The statement went on to say: “While we’ve been away, all the team have been working away regenerating our beloved festival and poring over your extensive feedback – and finding so many great suggestions.
“Its brilliant to have an audience that cares so much about what WOMAD is, could be, and stands for. In a world in which many bad actors seem to be achieving power by fanning the flames of hatred racism and division, a meeting place for all the world’s cultures and dreams, built on mutual respect, seems all the more precious.”
On hosting WOMAD next year, Sir James and Lady Venetia Fuller said: “We, along with our home team are very excited to welcome the WOMAD community to Neston Park in 2026. This will be the first time we’ve opened the estate to any type of event and WOMAD’s message and what it stands for is something we’ve long admired.”
The 2025 year off follows the festival’s cancellation in 2021 amid the COVID pandemic, which, at the time, Gabriel put down to a lack of support from the UK government. He had previously warned that the event would be cancelled unless the government offered an insurance program.
In other news, in September, Gabriel featured in a message alongside other artists calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for Together For Palestine, ahead of the huge benefit show in London.
Back in 2023, he also appeared in a video by Artist for Action to Prevent Gun Violence, an organisation that asks Americans to vote to eradicate gun violence in the country. “As much as I love the United States, I am always appalled at the ease with which anyone can get a weapon,” Gabriel says in the video.
Gabriel also weighed in on the AI debate, saying, “I’m probably just as scared [of AI] as everybody else, but I like to jump in the river rather than talk about it…I do think about it quite a lot, and I think not enough people are thinking about it.”
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