PRESS RELEASE

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WOW - WOMEN OF THE WORLD AND THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL ANNOUNCE WOW AT 15

• Royal Albert Hall and WOW - Women of the World announce a special one-off event on International Women’s Day to celebrate WOW’s landmark anniversary.

• WOW at 15 will feature a rare UK headline appearance by legendary activist Angela Davis in conversation with WOW’s Founder Jude Kelly CBE.

• Further speakers and performances to be announced.

• Tickets for WOW at 15 go on sale at 10am on Friday 20 September (pre-sale 19 September).

• WOW at 15 is the first event to be announced in a year-long celebration of events and programmes to mark the anniversary.

WOW - Women of the World and the Royal Albert Hall have today announced WOW at 15, a special one-off celebration which will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on International Women’s Day (8 March 2025).

A major highlight of WOW’s 15th anniversary year, WOW at 15 will celebrate the significant impact WOW has made shifting the dial on gender equity since being founded by Jude Kelly CBE in 2010, and look to the future to discuss the urgent challenges that still need to be overcome.

In a rare UK appearance, legendary activist Angela Davis will headline the event in conversation with WOW Founder’s Jude Kelly, alongside a bill of world-class speakers, activists and artists for an evening of big ideas and conversations, laughter, joy and performance with further guests to be announced.

Over the past 15 years, WOW Festivals and events have taken place in 45 locations on six continents celebrating women, girls and non-binary people. Attracting five million people worldwide, WOW has supported thousands of activists, brought previously taboo subjects into mainstream dialogue and acted as a catalyst for the launch and success of countless campaigns.

This will be the first WOW event held at the Royal Albert Hall, a venue intrinsically linked with the history of the suffragette movement and the site where some of the most memorable speeches and events took place in the fight for women to gain the vote.

Headlining the event, leading activist, scholar and author Angela Davis will join Jude Kelly for a special in conversation honouring her life and achievements. Angela went from being on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List to becoming one of the most sought after speakers in the world, and a key witness to the historical struggles of the contemporary era. Jude and Angela will discuss the role of love in activism, hope and healing, her dreams for the future - and her love of the Blues..

The evening will also feature the world premiere of a newly commissioned fanfare for the Royal Albert Hall’s spectacular organ written by award-winning composer Isobel Waller-Bridge and performed by renowned organist, conductor, broadcaster and composer Anna Lapwood on the Hall’s 153-year-old 9,999 pipe organ.

Further line-up will be announced this autumn.

Angela Davis says: "I am delighted to be in conversation with Jude Kelly as part of this event to mark 15 years of WOW. I have appeared a number of times at the festival and am always inspired by its energy and mission. I'm excited to see what the next 15 years brings, and look forward to celebrating with you all on International Women's Day."

Jude Kelly, CEO and Founder of The WOW Foundation says: “2025 marks an incredible milestone for WOW – something that started as a dream of mine 15 years ago is now a global movement run by 30 like-minded partners in 45 locations across six continents. It is an extraordinary moment, but also a bittersweet one. I would love to be able to say that WOW, in its 15th year, is no longer needed. That women, girls and non-binary people are seen and valued equally the world over, however this is not the case. Our anniversary year will serve to renew all our energies, and despite setbacks, help sustain optimism and joy that will ultimately enable gender equity to be achieved. We can’t wait to come together for WOW at 15 – Angela Davis has been a true friend to WOW across many years, and in her 80th year we want to honour her unparalleled contribution to work towards equity in all its forms.”

Matthew Todd, Director of Programming at the Royal Albert Hall, says: “We’re incredibly honoured to be hosting WOW at 15 on International Women’s Day 2025 at the Hall. WOW has been instrumental in advocating for equality and at the forefront of creating progressive change. We hope that this momentous 15th anniversary event will help to energise and inspire the next generation of leaders and voices in ensuring a more fair and equal society, and we are so excited to be welcoming some of the world’s greatest thinkers, artists and activists to our stage.”

WOW at 15 will be the first of several events in 2025 marking WOW’s 15th anniversary, further details will be announced in the new year.

Tickets for WOW at 15 start from £20 with 200 £10 tickets allocated for community and school groups.

Tickets for WOW subscribers, and Friends and Patrons of the Royal Albert Hall go on sale on Thursday 19 September at 10am, with general on-sale on Friday 20 September at 10am on the Royal Albert Hall website.

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

LISTINGS

Royal Albert Hall and WOW - Women of the World Present

WOW at 15

Saturday 8 March 2025

The Royal Albert Hall

Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London SW7 2AP

Box Office

Open 9am – 9pm daily at Door 12 (except when there is no show in the auditorium and we close at 5pm).

Please note that from Sunday 15 September to Friday 20 September the box office at Door 12 and the Royal Albert Hall Café Bar will be closed.

Our phones are open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm on 020 7589 8212.

Tickets from £20

BSL Interpreted and live captioned

-ENDS-

For further information please contact

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk

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 six 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 15 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.

About the Royal Albert Hall:

The Royal Albert Hall is the world’s most famous stage. Throughout its 152-year history, it has welcomed a who’s who of world-renowned figures: artists, athletes and activists. No other place on earth has played host to Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Muhammad Ali; Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles and Adele. This was the Suffragettes’ “temple of liberty” – the site of Votes for Women rallies that helped change the course of British history – the home of the Stonewall concerts, and a place of celebration during Nelson Mandela’s state visit. But its eccentric history has also seen it used for a séance, an indoor marathon and the world’s first bodybuilding contest (judged by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

In an ordinary year, the Hall’s extraordinary auditorium presents around 400 world-class events: encompassing rock, pop and classical music, theatre, dance, films, Cirque du Soleil and sport. It typically welcomes 1.8 million visitors a year, while its 1,000 events in secondary spaces help to attract a young, diverse audience. Its Engagement programme includes music therapy, concerts in the community, and workshops with A-list artists, often in collaboration with other charities, such as Nordoff Robbins and Music for Youth.

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.

SATURDAY 25 MAY - DAY PROGRAMME

Award winning writer and actor Sophie Willan (Alma’s Not Normal), and actress and disability activist Liz Carr (Silent Witness) join the Saturday line-up to discuss the challenges and triumphs of being women on TV and why representation matters. In a conversation chaired by Geeta Pendse, the panel explores the narratives shaping our screens and cultures and who gets to tell those stories, as they share insights, laughs and their incredible personal journeys to fame, from growing up in care to navigating discrimination.

In addition there will be previously announced sessions with Jude Kelly and former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, who will open the Saturday programme exploring the world women, girls and non-binary people face today; The Chain author Chimene Suleyman in conversation with author and activist Charlie Craggs and Dr Leyla Hussein will explore how relationships can quickly turn sour and why society allows persistent misogyny to thrive; and DJ Paulette – one of only two women DJs to have a regular residency at the Hacienda - discussing Manchester’s lost music venues with Factory International’s Head of Music Rivca Burns and Santana Guérout, Chief of Programming at Band on the Wall.

WOW’s Big Ideas provide opportunities to hear some of the world’s best and most compelling speakers present their big ideas to change the world. On Saturday, Dr Layal Liverpool will explore how racism is making us ill; Gift Sally Akinyi O from Womankind Worldwide talks Everyday Feminism and how everydays acts help us move towards achieving gender equality; Taslima Ahmed from CDM UK, will discuss navigating a late life autism diagnosis as a South Asian woman; David Bartlett from Equimundo explains why better boyhoods are good for everyone; and Mel Johnson talks Solo parenting.

Workshops will take place throughout the day delving into a broad range of topics, ideas and creative practices. Pole dancer, academic, performer, activist and blogger Dr Carolina Are will lead a session on the algorithmic bias against nudity, its relationship to patriarchy and how to challenge censorship publicly. Hattie Hasan MBE, founder of Stopcocks Women Plumbers will hold a plumbing workshop for beginners, whilst Yamina Peerzada from WOW Pakistan will lead a session where creativity meets eco consciousness. There will also be a special workshop on Tatreez - traditional Palestinian embroidery - its history and cultural significance, a zine making session with Take Up Space Manchester, and a music and mindfulness workshop inspired by Afro-Brazilian dance and body percussion.

SUNDAY 26 MAY - DAY PROGRAMME

Maxine Peake and Jude Kelly start the day with a discussion on Manchester, what the future looks like for the creative industries and the optimism that keeps them going.

Dr Leyla Hussein, Global Advocacy Director for The Girl Generation - Support to the Africa-led movement to end female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) will lead a conversation on what it means to have a girl-centred approach to tackling gendered violence. Joined by young people who are leading the fight against gendered violence in their communities across East Africa, the discussion will explore why the voices and experiences of young people must be at the forefront of meaningful change.

Actor Zawe Ashton and broadcaster Gemma Cairney, two friends with celebrated careers in the arts, will explore how identity and creativity intersect in a frank and open discussion touching on race, gender, new motherhood and how their industries often do not feel built for the complex intersections of so many artists.

Author and former hostage Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, curator and art historian Rachel Dedman and author on sustainable fashion Aja Barber discuss the transformative power of garments. The conversation will delve into the broader context of fashion, navigating male and state-imposed dress codes, touching on global movements for sustainability in the fashion industry, the erasure of traditions and how clothes and needlework can be tools for change and survival.

Sunday’s WOW Big Ideas will be from: Helen Pankhurst on why she can’t give it a rest; Nazir Afzal making the case for why organisational culture matters; Leanne Yau discussing Radical Connections Through Relationship Anarchy; and Dr Mona El-Farra exploring why the situation in Gaza is a feminist issue.

Girl Gang Manchester will kick off the workshops on Sunday morning with Screaming into the Void - a chance to scream at the top of your voice into a darkened, expansive space, followed by Angst Aerobics - an emotional exorcism through exercise. Dr Leyla Hussein explores the root cause of burnout in a session which will provide practical strategies to cultivate psychological safety. Award winning arts practitioner, podcaster and broadcaster, Audrey Hall facilitates a sharing circle for women creatives over the age of 35, to ask, 'Was enough, enough?', to connect and convene to launch her Safe Space Sisterhood community. Further sessions throughout the day includes drawing your inner self with Promina Shrestha from WOW Nepal, an upcycling workshop with Drag Kings from Morris Choudry Qreations, an empowering workshop focused on celebrating Black Joy and Menstrual Mood Mapping.

Across the festival WOW’s much-loved Marketplace will feature over 50 pop-up stores, experiences and happenings. There will be interactive spaces from Global Fund for Women, a film screening from Womankind Worldwide; a confessional booth inspired by Gillian Anderson’s new book Want; drop-in workshops on block-printing and clay modelling; a Re:Yak workshop on upcycling clothes from Lucy & Yak; a Youth Zone and new artistic installations commissioned especially for WOW Manchester - Womenity by Ina-Maria Shikongo and MOONMOTH by Tania Kovats on display.

Alongside the Day ticket programmes, WOW will present free events throughout the weekend. Guided history walks highlighting women confined to the footnotes of history will take place, whilst a WOW Pop-Up will host a range of activities in the Social Space including learning how to make dyes from natural ingredients, poetry and WOW bites sessions. As part of ongoing project My City, My Voice, four musicians from Istanbul and Manchester will take up residence at WOW Manchester to create new music, in situ at the festival over a six hour period. WOW’s much-loved Speed Mentoring sessions will take place in the lower foyer offering an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with people from a huge variety of fields, including theatre directors, journalists, scientists, campaigners, artists and WOW speakers.

In the lead-up to the festival, WOW will bring a very special edition of The Hope Brigade to Manchester. Originally conceived in 2020, The Hope Brigade is a photography series profiling incredible women working at the forefront of their fields in 10 essential areas from conflict to climate justice, from Ake to Athens and Beijing to Brisbane. Working in partnership with Selfridges, WOW Manchester has added a further 10 portraits to the collection, profiling incredible leaders, activists and experts living and working in the North West. The series will be on display at Selfridges Exchange Square from 13 - 27 May.

Run by UK charity The WOW Foundation, 2024 will be the 14th WOW Festival in the UK and the first to be held in Manchester. In 2018, WOW Founder Jude Kelly built on the success of the festival to create UK-based charity The WOW Foundation to run the global WOW movement that believes a gender equal world is urgently needed, possible and desirable. Since the inaugural London Festival in 2010, launched by Kelly at the Southbank Centre, WOW and its partners across the world have reached more than five million people in more than 45 locations across the globe on six continents. Alongside Manchester WOW Festivals have also taken place this year in locations including Pakistan and Istanbul, with Kathmandu coming up later this year.

The WOW Foundation is proudly supported by its Global Founding Partner Bloomberg.

LISTINGS

WOW Manchester 2024

24-26 May, Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester, M3 4JQ

Weekend or Day Tickets available for Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May

All evening events £10-£25
Weekend Ticket price £25, £12.50 concessions

Day Ticket price £15, limited Aviva £10 tickets available

FRIDAY 24 MAY

Brutally Honest - An Evening with Mel B

Friday 24 May / 7:30pm, £25 full price; £12.50 concessions, limited Aviva £10 tickets available

Aviva Studios

BSL Interpreted and Captioned

SATURDAY 25 MAY

Saturday WOW Festival Day Ticket

Saturday 25 May / 10:30am-6pm, £15 Full Price; limited Aviva £10 tickets available

Aviva Studios (Many events will be BSL Interpreted and/or Captioned)

Weirdo - An evening with Sara Pascoe

Saturday 25 May / 6pm, £15 full price; £7.50 concessions, limited Aviva £10 tickets available.

Aviva Studios

BSL Interpreted and Captioned

SUNDAY 26 MAY

Sunday WOW Festival Day Ticket

Sunday 26 May / 10:30am-6pm, £15 Full Price; limited Aviva £10 tickets available

Aviva Studios (Many events will be BSL Interpreted and/or Captioned)

Masculinity, Addiction and Learning to Love - An Evening with Jordan Stephens

Sunday 26 May / 6pm, £22 full price; £11 concessions; limited Aviva £10 tickets available

Aviva Studios

BSL Interpreted and Captioned

IMAGES

Download images here.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk

Skye Redman skye@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 Rotherham: 11 May 2024

• WOW Biloela: 31 May - 1 June 2024

• WOW Australia: October 2024

• WOW Kathmandu: November 2024 tbc

• WOW Baltimore: 5 April 2025

• WOW Athens: 5 - 6 April 2025

About Factory International

Factory International commissions, produces and presents a year-round programme of original creative work and special events at Aviva Studios, its landmark new home in Manchester, online, and internationally through its network of co-commissioners and partners. It also stages the city-wide Manchester International Festival every other year.

The design of Aviva Studios is led by Ellen van Loon of the world-leading practice Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Built with flexibility in mind, the building is based around large, open, adaptable spaces that can be constantly reconfigured, enabling artists to develop and create large-scale work of invention and ambition of a kind not seen anywhere else in the world.

A unique canvas to make, explore and experiment, audiences can enjoy the broadest range of art forms from major exhibitions and concerts to intimate performances and immersive experiences. The venue’s development is led by Manchester City Council, with backing of £99.05m from HM Government and £7m National Lottery funding from Arts Council England.

Factory International builds on the legacy of Manchester International Festival, one of the world’s leading arts festivals, and the first to be entirely focused on the commissioning and producing of ambitious new work. Staged every two years in Manchester since 2007, world-renowned artists from different art forms and backgrounds create dynamic, innovative and forward-thinking new work in venues and spaces across Greater Manchester.

Factory International plays an important role in the lives of Greater Manchester residents, bringing jobs, skills, training and creative opportunities. Through the Factory Academy, Factory International is training the creative workforce of the future, while its pioneering creative engagement and artist development programmes create year-round opportunities for local people to get involved, from participating in flagship commissions to shaping the organisation through involvement in its public forums.

Factory International is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.