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FULL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED FOR THE WOW SHOW, WOW - WOMEN OF THE WORLD’S UPCOMING TOUR WITH FOUNDER JUDE KELLY

• AJA BARBER, LAURA BATES, CAROLINE BIRD, AFUA HIRSCH, SALI HUGHES, MARY PORTAS AND KIERAN YATES ANNOUNCED AS THE GUESTS WHO WILL JOIN JUDE KELLY ON THE ROAD FOR THE WOW SHOW.

• LOCAL HEROES NOMINATED BY THEIR COMMUNITIES FOR THEIR WORK TO BETTER THE LIVES OF PEOPLE IN THEIR AREA WILL JOIN JUDE AND GUESTS FOR EVENINGS OF OPTIMISM, DETERMINATION AND LAUGHTER.

• THE WOW SHOW WILL VISIT TWICKENHAM, CHIPPING NORTON, BRIGHTON AND YORK FROM 10 - 13 OCTOBER 2024.

WOW - Women of the World will head off on tour this month with a brand-new live series, The WOW Show with Jude Kelly. WOW’s Founder and acclaimed theatre director will invite conversation around our often exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity with audiences at theatres around the country.

Produced in a new partnership with esk, Jude will share the stage with a different line-up of special guests at each venue, including amazing women and non-binary people local to each area who are making change happen – challenging stereotypes, bucking the trend, and who have inspiring personal stories to share. These local heroes have been nominated by their communities for their work to better the lives of people in their area.

Writer, stylist and consultant Aja Barber and poet Caroline Bird will join The WOW Show at the Exchange Theatre in Twickenham in conversation with Jude Kelly on 10 October, alongside a special reading by Academy Award-winning actor Vanessa Redgrave. The line-up will also include a performance from bagpiper Millie Scott, and local heroes and changemakers Natalie O’Rourke, founder of Park Lane Stables which supports children and adults with disabilities; the Meet and Deep family, whose much loved newsagent created a community hub within their shop; and Jill Lorimer, Head of Campaigns at WEP, Richmond who helps organise the monthly candlelit vigil at Twickenham Green, to commemorate Amelie Delagrange who was attacked and killed on her way home.

Celebrated businesswoman, broadcaster, author and activist Mary Portas OBE will join Jude at The Theatre Chipping Norton on 11 October alongside local heroes: children’s author Lela Burbridge, founder of The Lela Project a not-for-profit publishing house who use their book proceeds to fund library projects in Uganda; and Lisa Ward, a Violence Against Women & Girls activist, researcher and consultant. There'll also be traditional Levantine dancing with Lana Al-Shami.

Journalists, writers and broadcasters Sali Hughes and Afua Hirsch will be in conversation with Jude at the Brighton Dome Studio Theatre on 12 October alongside local heroes Molly Mathieson, founder of award winning charity New Note Projects which engages and supports people affected by addiction, homelessness and challenging mental health; Ceyda Tanc, founder of all-female dance company, Ceyda Tanc Dance, that challenges traditional gender representation in dance; and student and carer Joyce Coomber Sewell who provides mentorship to autistic students.

Journalist, writer and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, Laura Bates and journalist and author Kieran Yates will join Jude for the final stop of The WOW Tour, at York Theatre Royal on 13 October. Featuring a mind-boggling demonstration from champion Rubik cube speed solver Katie Moughan Davis, they will also be joined by local heroes Abigail Gaines, founder of the Make Space for Girls project which addresses the drop off in park usage as girls enter their teenage years; and Shamim Eimaan, founder of Eimaan Culture and Community Services CIC which focuses on promoting activities to improve equality, diversity, inclusion, health and wellbeing. We’ll also have poetry by Sharena Lee Satti and a final bagpipe performance by Millie Scott.

Alongside personal anecdotes, big picture analysis and tales of incredible women you may have never heard of but who changed the course of history, each evening will crowdsource burning issues and ideas local audiences want to talk about, covering everything from money, sex, race, food, ageing and more, as WOW and audiences will discover along the way.

Jude Kelly said: “I’m excited to be hitting the road with WOW and heading off on tour. Wherever WOW is in the world, the thing I enjoy most is meeting local heroines and unearthing stories of the incredible things people are doing in their communities. It’s WOW’s 15th anniversary in 2025, and although we are far from having a gender equal society, there is still a huge amount to celebrate. I’m looking forward to meeting the people that are making change happen in their local towns and cities, and joining with audiences as we celebrate together this autumn.”

The WOW Show with Jude Kelly follows recent WOW Festivals in Rotherham and Manchester in the UK, and in Pakistan, Turkey, Greece and Australia, all of which have taken place in the build-up to WOW’s 15th anniversary in 2025. Founded in 2010, WOW Festivals and events celebrate women, girls and non-binary people and take a frank look at the obstacles they face. Run by charity The WOW Foundation, WOW has reached five million people across the globe to date.

The WOW Foundation is proudly supported by its Global Founding Partner Bloomberg and Global Girls Champion Standard Chartered.

LISTINGS

The WOW Show with Jude Kelly

10 October, The Exchange Twickenham

11 October, Chipping Norton Theatre

12 October, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre

13 October, York Theatre Royal

IMAGES

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-ENDS-

For further information please contact

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk @breadandbutterpr

NOTES TO EDITORS

About The WOW Foundation
The WOW Foundation was created by Jude Kelly CBE in 2018 to run the global movement that is WOW - Women of the World Festivals. The Festivals began in the UK in 2010, launched by Kelly at the Southbank Centre London, where she was Artistic Director, to celebrate women and girls, taking a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, raising awareness globally of the issues they face, and discussing solutions together.

To date, WOW has reached five million people in 45 locations on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA.

Over the last 13 years the Festivals have developed a reputation as a space for world renowned artists, activists, thinkers and performers including Angela Davis, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Salma Hayek, to come and participate, alongside thousands of women and girls who don’t have public profiles but are doing amazing things. WOW provides platforms for people of all kinds, changes attitudes, brings communities together and provides a unique space for people to work together towards gender equity in their own communities. One example of the Festival’s impact came in 2015, with the founding of the Women’s Equality Party by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer.

In 2018 Kelly left the Southbank Centre to run The WOW Foundation full time as a charity working to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable through festivals and empowering women and girls. The unique festival model creates numerous pathways for participants to take part in WOW projects, amplify their own causes, or start new initiatives which have a wide impact on communities. It is the biggest, most comprehensive and most significant festival dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equity for women and girls.

WOW Festival was originally produced and presented by Southbank Centre.

The President of WOW - Women of the World is Her Majesty The Queen.

WOW Festivals will be taking place around the world in the next 12 months:

• WOW Australia: 25 October 2024

• WOW Kathmandu: 23-24 November 2024

• WOW Athens: 4-6 April 2025

• WOW Baltimore: 5 April 2025

About Jude Kelly

Jude Kelly CBE is CEO and Founder of The WOW Foundation, which runs WOW - Women of the World Festivals across the globe to celebrate the achievements of women, girls and non-binary people and confront global gender injustice. Starting at London’s Southbank Centre in 2010, where Jude was Artistic Director for 12 years, the festival now takes place in 45 locations across six continents. Jude is also a multi-award-winning theatre director and has directed over 200 productions. In 2015 she was awarded a CBE for services to the Arts and throughout her career has advised governments on arts, education and social mobility.

About esk

esk is a creative producer of live entertainment, combining international brands with live audiences. Founded in 2022 and with a creative flair for telling powerful stories in a live setting, some of their recent shows and content have included: Wild Isles Live (a spoken word series with the BBC and Silverback Films), Life on Our Planet in Concert (an immersive concert experience with a live orchestra for Netflix) and Top Gun: Maverick in Concert (an orchestral blockbuster show with Paramount). The company is located in Edinburgh, Scotland.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg – the global business, financial information and news leader – is a founding supporter of WOW - Women of the World Festivals. Bloomberg has long supported organisations and causes that advance gender equality and seek to address challenges women face around the world, from maternal and reproductive health to women’s economic empowerment and inspiring the new generation of female leaders. Bloomberg has proudly supported WOW Festivals since 2012 www.bloomberg.com/women

About Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 64. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.