Nelson may join Taranaki in hosting Womad

International music festival Womad could become a shared event, alternating between Taranaki and Nelson as organisers seek bigger crowds to break even.

The World of Music, Arts and Dance festival began in New Plymouth in 2003 and ran biennially until 2007 when it became an annual event.

In recent years the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (Taft) has seen attendance wane, and last week visited Nelson to view potential sites and speak with the council.

While no official proposal has been made, Taft chief executive Suzanne Porter told the Taranaki Daily News the plan was for the festival to alternate between venues each year.

She said sharing Womad with another North Island region was not a possibility.

"You would cut off your nose to spite your face putting it in another North Island venue.

"It is an invidious position for us to be in and the only thing we can do is be quite honest and say the reasons why we are doing this. We are a company who just looks to break even, it's not even about returning a surplus but we are struggling to get on top."

Nelson City Council chief executive Keith Marshall told the Nelson Mail nothing official was on the table yet.

Councillor Ali Boswijk confirmed the council had been in talks over a couple of major events being considered for the region after it lost the World of WearableArt Awards to Wellington in 2005.

- NZPA