Connecting with different cultures, music and people, while experiencing the wonderful world of the WOMAD festival is all part of the job if you are Ann Perquy volunteer and artist liaison for that special weekend once a year in March. Being part of the volunteer artist liaison team at WOMAD requires lots of energy. There are no boundaries to Ann’s role as artist liaison. The most important aspect of the role is to “make sure the performers feel welcome so they can perform in good spirits”. Ann let us in on the sorts of things she did back stage this year at the festival “making sure the dressing rooms are set up, getting food platters ready for the artists and I also gained the task of translator for when French speaking artists arrived. Its also heaps of fun getting to know the artists, most love to make conversation about their experiences and how much they love New Zealand.”
For Ann becoming a volunteer started when she saw the 2008 WOMAD line up which included the band Toumani Diabate who are too many in New Zealand unknown but to Ann old friends that she hadn’t seen since she was back home in Belgium nine years ago. Trying to figure out how she could reunite with old friends Ann decided to volunteer at the festival and was so happy she did as she describes the endless opportunities she received “the diversity in the programme of the performances, the people who are involved in creating the event, the atmosphere it’s an amazing festival. The chance to discover world music and listening to the artist background when they have their interviews, its just so inspiring”.
