
WOW
Women of the World
İstanbul
March 19-20, 2022
March 19-20, 2022
WOW - Women of the World Festival, which aims to support women and girls by highlighting the challenges they face the solutions they can find together was organized face to face for the first time in Istanbul through the partnership between the WOW - Women of the World Foundation and the British Council and with the support of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality at Müze Gazhane, Istanbul’s new cultural heritage and creativity hub, on 19-20 March with participation of 3,500 guests. WOW festivals globally having reached more than three million people in six continents and in over 30 locations, with WOW İstanbul has brought together the arts and culture world and civil society to develop new dialogues and collaborations.
The festival offered a unique platform, where women from different backgrounds shared their stories and voices via music, performance, talks and workshops. Inspired from up to 200 artists, civil society and creative professionals as well as students from the UK and Türkiye ,.WOW Istanbul has offered a safe, and inclusive platform for sharing of cultural and creative expressions with belief in change and the equality of women who say #WeAreTogether.
Organized by Pozitif, the WOW Istanbul Festival continued to pursue its objective to be more inclusive for all through the support of the consultancy of Erişilebilir Her Şey (Accessible Everything). The festival accommodated Turkish sign language interpretation, as well as simultaneous Turkish and English interpretation for all events, access features for blind and visually impaired guests and wheelchair users. 11 per cent of the festival audiences identified as disabled.
British Council Head of Arts Esra A. Aysun as the WOW Istanbul Turkey Curator lead the festival programming with support of festival’s advisory board members Asena Günal (Anadolu Kültür), Figen Ayhan Karakelle (İBB Cultural Department Directorate), Gamze Sofuoğlu (Turkcell), Nurcan Baysal, Özlem Ece (İKSV), Rümeysa Çamdereli (Havle), Ülker Uncu (BGST) and Zelal Yalçın (İBB Social Policy Centre). British Council’s Wider Europe Equality Diversity And Inclusion Lead Su Başbuğu, has overseen the accessibility of the festival.
WOW - Women of the World Festival 2022: https://youtu.be/vPcoFc7VlPw
Launched in 2010 in London by Jude Kelly, WOW Festivals have spread over six continents, reaching more than 3 million participants with more than 70 festivals. WOW – Women of the World Festival Istanbul is held this year at Müze Gazhane on March 19-20, 2022 in partnership with the WOW – Women of the World Foundation and British Council and with the support of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. This special festival, bringing together arts and culture domain with the civil society, will offer participants a physical experience for the first time in Istanbul.
WOW Festivals are presented in collaboration with Southbank Center (London).
The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. We help young people to gain the skills, confidence and connections they are looking for to realise their potential and to participate in strong and inclusive communities. We support them to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Our work in arts and culture stimulates creative expression and exchange and nurtures creative enterprise.
The British Council has an international partnership with WOW and have partnered to support WOW festivals around the world. The British Council’s global network of offices and local staff, combined with our unique insight into the UK arts and culture scene, make us the ideal partner to implement WOW festivals that embrace local cultures and communities and make new connections with the UK, whilst still maintaining the unique format WOW is famous for.
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 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 over 3 million people in 17 countries on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA. In 2018/19 WOW was in Rio de Janeiro, Cardiff, Bradford, Bangladesh, Brisbane, Janakpur (Nepal), Baltimore, London, Exeter, Norwich, Perth, Beijing, Ghana and Nigeria. In June 2020, WOW held its first ever worldwide online festival focused on women and girls — WOW Global 24. The festival travelled around the world everywhere from the UK to Nigeria, and Pakistan to Australia exploring the intersectional impact of COVID-19 on gender inequality, and responding to Black Lives Matter.
Over the last 10 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 equality in their own communities. One example of the impact of the festival 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 equality for women and girls.
WOW festivals and events are presented by arrangement with Southbank Centre. The President of WOW - Women of the World is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
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