WOMAD announce details of the Physics Pavilion

Organisers of this year's WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance held at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, in Wiltshire from Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st July 2016 have announced details of the Physics Pavilion - their new venue this year.

Joining forces with CERN, the organisation that brings together the international community of scientists and engineers, alongside the Institute of Physics, Lancaster University and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and in the shared spirit of having fun discovering new things, the Physics Pavilion promises to give festival goers an exhilarating programme of scientific discovery which bridges the gap between academic research, popular science and entertainment.

Looking beyond the planet earth, space enthusiasts will have a chance to immerse themselves in the worlds of Black Holes, Anti-matter, Neutrinos, the Higgs Boson, the Northern Lights and, of course, the science of Time Travel.

Top of the agenda is the science of time travel and leading that discussion will be writer and executive producer of Doctor Who Steven Moffat. He will discuss his work and how science fact blends with science fiction in a Q & A with the curator of the Pavilion, Professor Roger Jones from Lancaster University.

The Physics Pavilion will also TV and radio presenter, Geek songstress and musical comedian, Helen Arney.

Visitors to the Physics Pavilion will also, among other experiences, discover the futuristic cosmic piano; go live into the control room of the ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and hear from those who work there; hear data from the Hadron Collider turned into interactive musical soundscapes; learn about space weather, light drawing and the physics of fireworks, not to mention getting hands on by creating a cloud-in-a-box.

The Physics Pavilion is open from 12 noon until 6pm every day, and is situated in the World of Words in the arboretum.

Chris Smith, Global Festival Director said, "WOMAD has always been about exploring and learning and our first venture into the world of science - alongside an organisation as global and pioneering as CERN - will create a whole new dimension to the festival, and one which will no doubt intrigue, fascinate and excite the WOMAD audience."

"CERN is very happy to bring cutting edge science to WOMAD," added Charlotte Warakaulle, CERN’s Director for International Relations. "I'm sure the eclectic mix of science, arts and entertainment on offer in the Physics Pavilion will delight the WOMAD public."

The line-up includes George Clinton And Funkadelic/Parliament, Baaba Maal, John Grant, Roots Manuva, Charles Bradley, St. Germain, Anoushka Shankar, Toumani Diabate & friends, Konono No1, King Creosote, Bamba Wassoulou Groove, Fuel Fandango, Hackney Colliery Band, Inna Modja, Iration Steppas, and Kapucha, Onra, Twelfth Day, Buika, Ibrahim Maalouf, Grit Orchestra, Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band, Sidestepper, Baloji, Desert Slide, Hot 8 Brass Band, Aziza Brahim, This Is The Kit, Auntie Flo, Aynur, The Breath, Cabruera, Dubioza Kolektiv, Federico Albanese, Florian Keller, Kefaya, Kim Juhong's Ensemble Noreum Machi, Meta and The Cornerstones, Pierce Brothers, Selda Bagcan & Boom Pam, Zmei 3, Muzykanci, Afriquoi, Ethno Trio Troitsa, Tetish, The East Pointers, Blick Bassy, Dom La Nena, Moh! Kouyate, Lula Pena, Ana Tijoux, Asiq Nargile, Alash, Amaraterra, Bafula, Diabel Cissokho, Kel Assouf, Le Vent du Nord, Ngawang Lodup with The Monks from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Otava Yo, Volosi, Broadway Sounds, Chouk Bwa Libete, Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosei, Hanoi Masters, Heartbeat, Hindi Zahra, La Mambanegra, Lura, Mercedes Peon, N'Diale, Sons of Kemet, MC Soom T, Wiyaala, Xaos, and all-woman supergroup Les Amazones D'Afrique featuring the voices of Oumou Sangare, Mariam Doumbia, Kandia Kouyaté , Rokia Koné, and Mamani Keita.

Asian Dub Foundation and Imarhan perform on the Thursday night along with local schoolkids Malmesbury Schools Project, and Escola de Carnaval.

The full line-up features around 100 artists from 40 countries performing over the festival weekend.

For the line-up details, and day splits, as available see the WOMAD line-up page.

An adult day ticket is priced at £90, a teenage day ticket is £50, and an SN16 resident day ticket is priced at £70.

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Early bird tickets sold out in record time in December. Weekend tickets - which are valid from the Friday until Sunday are priced at £175 (Thursday arrivals will also need a Thursday camping ticket costing £35).

Other ticket prices & options available include:
Teenage Weekend Ticket (aged 14-17)  £85
Disabled Weekend Ticket  £145
SN16 Resident Weekend £120
A campervan ticket £70
Spa Ticket £105 (sold out)
Park & Camp £75
La-Di-Dah Loos £25

Children 13 and under can come free with each adult ticket holder, but need a free child ticket.

All children must hold their own ticket and must be accompanied by a ticket holding parent or guardian over the age of 21. One ticket holding parent or guardian can only accompany up to 4 people under the age of 18. Names of teenagers must be registered when purchasing tickets. Thursday tickets do not need to be purchased for children aged 13 and under.

There's more to explore at WOMAD this year, including the weird and wonderful hub that is the World of Words which is simply packed to the gills with comedy, slam poetry, talks, authors and much, much more! A lyrics-writing masterclass by Squeeze frontman Chris Difford, a What The Papers Say panel discussion with Rupert Evelyn and spoken word madness at the Hip Yak Poetry Shack .

The theme for this year’s World of Children is Brazilian Carnival, where the fiesta never ends as kids get the chance to join the circus, learn how to samba and even become movie stars in the filmmaking workshops.

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