Following the Hungarian Government’s closure of borders to non-residents from Tuesday, 1 September 2020 in repsonse to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers of the WOMEX 20 festival, conference and expo have announced that the event will take place digitally. WOMEX 20 had been due to take place in October.
Although the physical event has been cancelled in its usual format, some elements will be happening live and streamed online from Budapest. Details of the online programme will be published by mid-September.
WOMEX 20 organisers, Piranha Arts, issued the following statement:
‘In the light of the Hungarian Government’s recent emergency declaration, demanding two locally produced negative tests or two weeks of quarantine upon entry, we realise that conducting an international physical event, in the way that we have been doing in previous editions, would be unfeasible for most of the community involved. We have tried everything to create a safe, accessible and enjoyable edition for the community but with the discouraging trends of the pandemic and the emergency measures and travel restrictions that follow we came to the point where this is the only responsible decision.
‘All current registrations for WOMEX 20 will be cancelled, and all registration fees and stand booking fees will be fully refunded. The WOMEX Registration team will process all cancellations and get in touch with registered Delegates within the next days. We kindly ask you to be patient, as this will take some time, and we thank you for your understanding.
‘Over the past months, we have been continuously reviewing all scenarios to find a way to give us an on-site event with physical distancing, spacious venues, and every possibility to maintain the hygiene and the safety of delegates, artists and team. This is now beyond our control… we will move to a new format within our original event dates – a format that we are committed to creating to be as human, as inspiring and as useful as possible.’
MUSIC:ED is an Official Media Partner for WOMEX 20
