Lower Foyer, Saturday and Sunday

Share challenges, exchange stories and meet a whole range of incredible women and non-binary people, including WOW speakers.

Got an ambition but don’t know how to make it happen? Starting out with something new? Or feel like you’re at a crossroads?

Meet people with a whole range of experiences across a huge variety of fields, including theatre directors, journalists, scientists, campaigners, artists and WOW speakers.

During the session, you’re matched at random for four individual 15-minute mentoring sessions. It’s a friendly, fun and joyful experience – just come as yourself with an idea or challenge you’d like to discuss!

WOW Speed Mentoring takes place at WOW festivals across the globe. Let’s bring all the glorious women and non-binary people of Manchester together.

This session is for women and non-binary people only.

Book here.

Undercroft, all weekend

Learn how to make dyes from natural ingredients in this free and interactive workshop running across the festival weekend. Whether it’s bundle dyeing or flower hammering, you can get stuck in whilst learning about the benefits of nature foraging for dye plants and the impact industry dyes have on the environment.

This workshop is run by a collective of organisations and artists from WOVEN in Kirklees, Stitched Up Manchester and the University of Manchester.

Social Space, Saturday

Are you a maker wanting to get your product out into the wider world? We’re calling out to female and non binary-led North West social businesses with a product to sell!

Join ethical retailer Different Kind for a Different, Kinder type of Den. There won’t be any dragons but there will be a panel of expert judges who are keen to hear about you. Come and pitch your idea to our judges and win the opportunity to become a Different Kind producer and get support from fellow women founders.

Social Space, Saturday & Sunday

WOW Bites are short talks and stories, and sometimes performances, readings, and soapbox moments, on a very wide range of subjects from the serious to the more zany, delivered by all sorts of women and non-binary people, some well-known local organisers, poets and activists and some you’ll never have heard of but have amazing stories about the things that matter the most to Manchester.

Social Space, Saturday

Brighter Sound and Kreşendo connect musicians from Istanbul and Manchester as part of ‘My City, My Voice’. Developed in 2022 for WOW Istanbul, supported by the British Council, My City My Voice has just concluded its third edition in March and is now extending its journey to WOW Manchester.

Rojda Sönmez (Diyarbakır) and Ezgi Karadayi (Istanbul) join IORA and Mandy Wigby (Manchester) as musicians in residence. Together they’ll remix tracks originally composed and produced in Istanbul to create new music that weaves in live recordings from across Manchester.

Created in situ in less than six hours, the new tracks will be unveiled live at WOW Manchester, with all four artists sharing their creative and collaborative process.

Outside, all weekend

The WOW Girls Festival Bus is an interactive space created with and for young people, working with Getaway Girls in Leeds and artist/designer Emma Hardaker. Parked up outside Aviva Studios during WOW Manchester, the WOW Bus will host artist facilitators offering free mini drop-in workshops for people of all ages and genders. Jump on board and get stuck into a creative exploration of gender equity. Get crafty in our workshop area, have an unexpected conversation in the recording studio, dive into a digital experience using a QR code and leave your mark to shout about the things which matter to you.