In 2023, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) presented the first WOW – Women of the World Festival in Greece. The festival was staged in cooperation with the UK-based The WOW Foundation, the world’s largest event dedicated to women, girls, and non-binary people. WOW Athens, presented in Greece in cooperation with the British Council and with the support of the British Embassy Athens, includes speeches, discussions, exhibitions, workshops, mentoring sessions, educational programs, concerts, and much more, in an ambitious event aiming to empower women in tackling the barriers they encounter daily, and celebrate the victories won to date.

In recent years, and thanks to the booming modern-day feminist movements in Greece and internationally, the issues of gender inequalities have been gaining more and more visibility in the public sphere. Moreover, current events, both domestic and global, unfortunately continue to provide us with facts that are shocking, troubling, and underline the need for change, both on an institutional and on an individual level.

WOW Athens aims to make room and provide opportunities for conversation that can bring us closer to a just society, a society in which we participate equitably and enjoy equal opportunities. Gender inequalities in the entire spectrum of our individual and collective experience concern us on both an institutional and a personal level. Therefore, the organisation of a festival aiming to provide a platform for awareness-raising, exchange of ideas and dialog on these issues, along with talks, music, visual arts and participatory activities.

Designed by Renzo Piano and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is a public space, where everyone has free access and can participate in a multitude of cultural, educational, athletic, environmental and recreational activities and events. It includes the Greek National Opera, the National Library of Greece and–at its heart–the Stavros Niarchos Park, the largest public Mediterranean garden in the world. Through its year-long events program the SNFCC has been established as a major agent of culture, as well as an incubator of skills and ideas, in direct conversation with communities and the society at large. The SNFCC was created thanks to an exclusive grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), which delivered it to the Greek State upon completion.

Stay up to date with WOW Athens here. You can also follow SNFCC on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.