Global grooves and big conversations under the trees at WOMADelaide
Part music festival, part global gathering, WOMADelaide 2026 blends iconic headliners, unexpected discoveries and big ideas into one unmissable long weekend.
Every March long weekend, WOMADelaide transforms Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla into a living, breathing crossroads of music, ideas and culture.
For its 29th edition, the beloved festival returns from March 6–9, 2026 with a world-spanning program that moves from Bhutan to the Kimberley, Cuba to Ukraine – inviting audiences to wander, listen, dance and discover across four immersive days under Adelaide’s plane trees.
For seasoned festivalgoers and first-timers alike, WOMADelaide’s appeal lies in its sheer breadth.
You can plan meticulously around must-see sets, or simply wander and let the weekend unfold. Either way, 2026 is shaping up as a particularly rich year for discovery.
The biggest headline of the 2026 program belongs to Grace Jones, revealed as WOMADelaide’s Saturday night headliner.
The Jamaican singer, style icon, art-rock symbol and cultural disruptor will make her WOMADelaide debut at age 77, bringing her unmistakable voice and theatrical presence to the Foundation Stage on Saturday, March 7.
With a catalogue spanning ‘Pull Up to the Bumper’, ‘My Jamaican Guy’ and ‘Slave to the Rhythm’, Jones’ influence on pop, fashion and performance has echoed for more than four decades.
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WOMADelaide director Ian Scobie says the booking is one to savour: “We are delighted to have the one and only Grace Jones join us for WOMADelaide,” he said.
“She is guaranteed to bring a thrilling and memorable energy to the 2026 festival.”
Global line-up
Grace Jones joins a stellar lineup that spans the world of music.
Opening night headliner Jovanotti brings Italian pop exuberance, while Arrested Development – the first hip-hop artists to win a Grammy for Best New Artist – deliver socially conscious classics. One of Africa’s greatest female voices and activists, Oumou Sangaré, returns with her powerful blend of music and message.
Across the lineup, highlights range from the Afro-funk of Nigerian, London-based Obongjayar – who featured on Fred again..’s hit track ‘adore u’ – to the sublime Marlon Williams performing alongside Kapa Haka group Ngā Mātai Pūrua. There’s spiritual jazz and South Asian classical influence from Indian-American artist Ganavya; soul from Jalen Ngonda fresh from Glastonbury; Cuban Grammy nominee and former Buena Vista Social Club member Roberto Fonseca; and Scandinavian folk from Åkervinda.
The festival also welcomes its first Bhutanese artists, Bhutan Balladeers, alongside favourites including Baker Boy, Iron & Wine, Beoga and 82-year-old First Nations gospel singer Kankawa Nagarra.
With exclusive Australian performances from artists including Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s groundbreaking ‘Rosas danst Rosas‘, Daughters of Donbas and Orange Blossom, the program balances global icons with rare, once-only experiences.
Beyond the stages
Music is only part of the WOMADelaide experience. Throughout the park, the Around the Park program transforms pathways and lawns into performance spaces.
Expect trampoline and tightrope works from French dance-circus company Cie Hors Surface; roaming shows from Born in a Taxi; artistic hairdressers Osadía turning unsuspecting audience members into walking artworks; and Stan’s Café’s Of All The People In All The World, which uses piles of rice to visualise global population statistics in a quietly powerful installation.
It’s this layering of performance – planned and accidental – that keeps WOMADelaide feeling alive from day to night.
Big conversations
Returning for 2026, The Planet Talks once again anchors WOMADelaide’s ideas program. Across three days, speakers including Marian Wilkinson, Tim Jarvis, Dan Hikuroa and Moemoana Schwenke lead conversations on climate justice, oceans, misinformation and environmental futures.
Running at the Frome Park Pavilion and included with festival tickets, the sessions invite audiences to listen, question and rethink – reinforcing WOMADelaide’s role as a place not just for entertainment, but engagement.
Still making an impact
Since 1992, WOMADelaide has drawn audiences not only for the music, but for the feeling – a sense of curiosity, openness and shared experience that’s increasingly rare.
As Ian Scobie puts it: “Few festivals in the world are able to showcase the breadth and diversity of music, arts and dance from across the globe, especially on such a large scale, while appealing to audiences of all ages and tastes. WOMADelaide is a glorious opportunity to discover new sounds that are soon to be favourites and embrace artists you love.”
Minister for Tourism Zoe Bettison agrees: “WOMADelaide is one of the most popular and revered festivals in the country, loved not only by South Australians but people from all over the world. It highlights world-class artists and a full festival experience, while attracting visitors to the state, and filling hotel rooms and restaurants.”
In 2026, WOMADelaide is once again guaranteed to amaze festivalgoers through its sheer diversity and ability to appeal to all ages and tastes.
