{"id":519463,"date":"2026-03-05T03:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/519463\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:48:09","slug":"womadelaide-announces-act-cancellations-as-middle-east-conflict-travel-restrictions-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/519463\/","title":{"rendered":"WOMADelaide announces act cancellations as Middle East conflict travel restrictions continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WOMADelaide Festival has announced a program change as several acts are unable to travel to Australia in the midst of the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n

The festival confirmed on Wednesday that changes have been made to the program because the acts, Alfio Antico & Go Dugong, Asm\u00e2a Hamzaoui & Bnat Timbouktou, Bhutan Balladeers, and Stan’s Caf\u00e9 Theatre Company \u2014 The Commentators have been impacted by travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

Over 20,000 flights have been cancelled since the escalating US and Israeli air<\/a> war against Iran began on the weekend.<\/p>\n

Iran war live updates<\/a>: For the latest news on the Middle East crisis read our blog.<\/p>\n

Last night, a plane arrived in Sydney from Dubai that had 200 Australians onboard<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was one of 60 flights out of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The next flight from the Middle East is expected to land in Sydney on Friday after leaving Abu Dhabi on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WOMADelaide festival director Ian Scobie said planning logistics “have been immense”.<\/p>\n

“In an incredibly challenging environment \u2014 due to the recent conflict in the Middle East \u2014 the logistical challenges of bringing such a large and diverse program of artists from around the globe to Adelaide have been immense,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Scobie said logistical challenges have been “immense”. (ABC News: Shari Hams)<\/p>\n

“We are deeply grateful to our team and the hundreds of artists who have persevered to find the combination of new routes and flights to ensure these extraordinary performances reach us.<\/p>\n

“At a time like this, WOMADelaide \u2014 as the world’s festival, reflecting the world as we would all hope it can be \u2014 is more important than ever.”<\/p>\n

In a statement posted to social media, Italian act Alfio Antico & Go Dugong said they were “unable to find a solution” to getting to Australia in the wake of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Italian act Alfio Antico & Go Dugong released a statement on Wednesday.\u00a0 (Instagram)<\/p>\n

“The trip included a stopover in Dubai and, as you can imagine, the current geopolitical situation has made it impossible for us to travel,” they said.<\/p>\n

“We tried in every possible way, right up to the last moment, to find alternate routes.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, we were unable to find a solution that wouldn’t put health, safety and the success of the performances at risk.”<\/p>\n

The festival is due to run from March 6 to March 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WOMADelaide Festival has announced a program change as several acts are unable to travel to Australia in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[259375,39629,259376,64,63,259377,23206,6901,134,259374,5575,6897,12241,258948,259378,3792,193814,259373,241694],"class_list":["post-519463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alfio-antico-go-dugong","tag-artists","tag-asmaa-hamzaoui-bnat-timbouktou","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bhutan-balladeers","tag-cancellations","tag-conflict","tag-entertainment","tag-flight-restrictions","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-stans-cafe-theatre-company","tag-travel","tag-travel-restrictions","tag-womad","tag-womadelaide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}