26 November 2021 - 0 Comments

It is with a heavy heart that the Auckland Folk Festival committee announces the cancellation of the 2022 Auckland Folk Festival.

We have been watching closely the developments in both community settings and progress of the pandemic. As we see further spread up and down the country, and with a move to the COVID-19 Protection Framework in a week, there is a lot of uncertainty around how the summer will look. Many regions, including Auckland, will go into red for an unspecified time and modelling shows that the surge of cases, while not overwhelming the health system, will last into January.

The Committee have carefully considered many factors in proceeding with the festival, including, primarily, can we put on a safe, fun and enjoyable festival?

Sadly, without clear direction yet from the government on exactly what a music and dance festival at “orange” or “green” would need to look like the Committee must take a conservative approach to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community and all those involved in the festival. We are not confident that a safe, fun and enjoyable festival will be deliverable at this point in time.

This decision has not been made lightly and we are so disappointed for our artists, site contractors and crew who make the event such a success each year. We also appreciate how vital these events are to their livelihood and the wider community’s mental health. But with looming site contracts, travel arrangements for our artists and other financial obligations due now, we have been forced to make an early decision as to whether we are able to host a successful and safe festival in 2022.

That decision, we are sad to say, is no. The 2022 Auckland Folk Festival is therefore cancelled. If you have bought a ticket, it will be refunded in full.

This is not a decision we have made lightly, and a huge amount of work had already gone into the Festival this year; while we are very disappointed we are planning to set up for a huge celebration on Anniversary Weekend 2023.

Auckland Folk Festival Committee

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