What will you be doing to mark this year’s International Women’s Day? If the answer is nothing then there is a new festival taking place at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre this weekend which promises a raft of thought-provoking and engaging discussions, workshops and performances.
For the first time the venue has teamed up with London’s Southbank Centre to host their own WOW (Women of the World) festival, which aims to celebrate women of all ages from birth to centenarians, in all guises and walks of life.
And they’ve got a pretty impressive array of speakers lined up for one of the headline events - the Inspiring Change talk which aims to celebrate inspirational women and their achievements.
Among those taking part in the debate at WMC’s Weston Studio will be chief executive of Race Council Cymru Uzo Iwobi OBE, theatre practitioner and compere Alex Murdoch, Christine Atkinson of Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WEH), chief executive of Chwarae Teg Joy Kent, as well as workshop leaders and performers from across the festival.
Entrepreneur Christine Atkinson will also be giving a talk on Nurturing Women in Business and discussing issues like gender pay and gender inequalities.
Women's Summit 2012. Image courtesy of Women Making a Difference.
Women Making a Difference (WMAD) will also host a Welsh Women’s Summit, bringing together diverse women and key decision-makers to discuss issues facing under-represented groups in communities in Wales and get their voices heard.
I caught up with the centre’s community engagement officer Hannah Wyn Jones to find out just what’s in store for festival-goers.
She told me: “WOW festival is such an inspiring event and it’s brilliant to be working alongside the Southbank Centre to bring it to Cardiff.
“There will be stimulating discussions and workshops in everything from folk singing, jewellery making and female writing to yoga and mindfulness.
“The Welsh Women’s Summit will see 10 tables of people discussing 10 different topics that relate to women and the ideas spoken about will be communicated back to decision makers who influence policy on a Welsh national level.
“The event is open to all mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts and friends but men are very welcome too and we hope it will inspire debate as well as celebration about how we have all progressed and evolved as people.”
The hope is to continue the festival next year and demonstrate how the concerns raised this year have been addressed by the decision makers.
Throughout the weekend there will be a range of live performances on the Glanfa stage including Gwenno Saunders (one third of The Pipettes) who’ll be performing work from her solo repertoire, singer, songwriter and founding member of Bara Menyn, Heather Jones, and Lynne Denman performing some traditional Welsh and English folk songs. There will also be a chance to see a little of the world’s dance on the stage with Sudanese and Bangladeshi folk dancers.
WOW Caerdydd takes place on 8 and 9 March 2014 in and around Wales Millennium Centre. For more information visit www.wmc.org.uk/wow.
You can join in the discussions on Twitter via #WOWCaerdydd and @theCentre. Guest tweeters Alex Murdoch and Laura Jane Williams will be answering questions on 8 March 2014 between 5pm and 6pm.
