PRESS RELEASE

WOW - WOMEN OF THE WORLD ON TOUR WITH FOUNDER JUDE KELLY IN COUNTDOWN TO WOW’S 15TH ANNIVERSARY

• JUDE KELLY, WOW FOUNDER AND ACCLAIMED THEATRE DIRECTOR, TAKES WOW ON THE ROAD FOR EVENINGS OF OPTIMISM, DETERMINATION AND LAUGHTER

• IN THE COUNTDOWN TO WOW’S 15TH ANNIVERSARY, THE WOW SHOW WITH JUDE KELLY WILL SPOTLIGHT LOCAL HEROES NOMINATED BY THEIR COMMUNITY ACROSS THE UK

• TOUR MARKS NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH ESK PRODUCTIONS

• THE WOW SHOW WILL VISIT TWICKENHAM, CHIPPING NORTON, BRIGHTON, YORK, AND BRADFORD IN OCTOBER

WOW - Women of the World will head off on tour this autumn 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 to be announced 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.

Alongside personal anecdotes, big pictures 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.

Each tour date will include an appearance by a local hero working to better the lives of people in their area, nominated by the local community. Details of the nomination process and all guests who will appear on the first The WOW Show with Jude Kelly will be announced later this year.

The tour will visit The Exchange Twickenham (10 October), Chipping Norton Theatre (11 October), Brighton Dome Studio Theatre (12 October), York Theatre Royal (13 October), and Bradford St George’s Hall (16 October).

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, Nepal, 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.

LISTINGS

The WOW Show with Jude Kelly

10 October, The Exchange Twickenham, on sale 14 June

11 October, Chipping Norton Theatre, tickets on sale now

12 October, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre, on sale 14 June

13 October, York Theatre Royal, on sale soon

16 October, Bradford St George’s, on sale 14 June

IMAGES

Download images here.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk

Skye Redman skye@breadandbutterpr.uk

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: October 2024

• WOW Kathmandu: November 2024

• WOW Athens: April 2025

• WOW Baltimore: 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