WOW Global 24, WOW’s first ever free online festival, takes place this weekend from 27-28 June. The Festival will be run over 24 hours and audiences from around the globe will be able to choose events streamed live on one of two channels curated by teams from all over the world.

The Festival has been planned by The WOW Foundation in rapid response to the world’s current events, including racial injustice and the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on women and girls, particularly those already marginalised.

From 10.30am BST on Saturday, you’ll be able to tune in to one of two channels - The Global Channel and The Local Channel. There will be performances, panel discussions, exclusive interviews and loads of WOW - Big Ideas to education and inspire.

Over the 24 hours, you’ll be able to see content from locations including the USA, Pakistan, Turkey, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Nigeria, the UK, Brazil, Australia, Malaysia and India - all via this website.

The Global Channel will concentrate on major discussions on six themes: EDUCATION, JUSTICE, CLIMATE, HEALTH, THE ECONOMY and VIOLENCE. After each discussion there will be a musical performance from female artists around the globe in WOW Sounds, and a selection of WOW Big Ideas from organisations including With and For Girls, The Female Lead and Common Purpose.

The Global Channel will be BSL interpreted by Performance Interpreting, with live captioning by My Clear Text and Stagetext.

WOW Global 24’s The Local Channel will feature conversation, performances, workshops and music from places already part of the WOW movement, all delivered in local languages. It will be curated by WOW partners including British Council (South Asia and Turkey), WOW Australia / Of One Mind (Australia and the Pacific), Across Red Lines (the Middle East), Ake Arts and Book Festival (the African Continent), WOW Bradford (UK), Redes da Maré (Brazil), WOW USA and WOW Malaysia.

Every WOW Festival around the globe has a WOW Marketplace, supporting and providing a platform for women-led businesses. For WOW Global 24 the Marketplace will go online for the first time on this website, curated by Janet’s List - a platform that helps buyers discover independent brands by Black women and women of colour from the UK. It will showcase the extraordinary entrepreneurial work of up and coming Black and women of colour led initiatives and collectives and provide a platform for social enterprises, collectives and organisations focusing on the six WOW Global 24 themes. The Marketplace will be global with Local Channel partners nominating women-led businesses from their region to feature.

WOW Global 24 will be proudly supported by The WOW Foundation’s Global Founding Partner, Bloomberg, and Moody’s.

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