The achievements of women and girls in the city and surrounding areas will be celebrated at a festival to be held at the Logan Entertainment Centre on July 15 and 16.
The WOW (Women of the World) Australia 2022 Festival is providing a stage for women’s voices to be heard through a series of bold, entertaining and conversation-provoking events with engaging messages and ideas about equality, diversity and positive change to help break down the barriers which women continue to face.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said WOW Australia ensured gender-based equality remained front of mind.
“It is often said that we can’t be what we can’t see, and I want young girls and women to grow up thinking ‘I can pursue any career, I can pursue any dream’, and to take every opportunity that comes their way,” Premier Palaszczuk said.
“The more society sees women doing whatever they want to do – whether it is trades or professions or sport – the sillier it seems that it wasn’t always this way.
“Equality in numbers brings equality to the views at the table, and there are also people with disabilities, First Nations, older Australians, younger Australians – everyone has something to offer and everyone should be heard.”
The WOW Logan Festival is the third in WOW Australia’s 2022 program and follows highly successful Festivals held in Cairns in May and Longreach in March.
Human Rights Advocate and Lawyer Nyadol Nyuon and Queensland’s Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, will be amongst a long list of distinguished guests to speak at the festival.
Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Shannon Fentiman, said the Palaszczuk Government was proud to support WOW Australia’s program across Queensland and its celebration of the achievements of women and girls.
Inspirational speakers will fuel conversations covering a range of matters of importance to women in Logan, including finance, jobs, business, family and religion.
- Challenging the roles and expectations of womanhood will be amongst others, leading First Nations academic and author Jackie Huggins, Maori leader Tat Mahuru Stanley and Queensland multicultural youth ambassador Mary Harm.
- Discussing money-making ventures will be Co-Director of the Griffith University Yunus Centre Ingrid Burkett, businesswoman and strategist Christine Mudvanhu-Makumbe, founder of Ethni, Kim Rollanson-Nokes, Denise Edwards, owner of First Nations led company The Cryogenics Group, and co-founder of Bee All Natural Natasha Roebig.
- Academic and social change expert Faiza el Higzi and Jackie Huggins, will converse on issues of identity, activism, leadership and reconciliation all to be found in Jackie’s recent publication Sister Girl.
- MATE Bystander trainer Michael Jeh will facilitate a discussion on the raising of boys and young men with amongst others Men4Respect Coordinator for YFS Andrew Taukolo, and MATE Bystander Ambassador Rhys Carroll
- The role of faith in women’s lives will be discussed with amongst others educator, human rights advocate, and interfaith leader Dr Nora Amath, Pastor Tina Vaka and spokesperson for the Home to Bilo campaign Angela Fredricks
Co-patron of WOW Australia June Oscar AO and her team will also share the recommendations and next steps for the landmark Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) report in one of a number of interactive workshops including those on sustainable design and the slow clothing movement.
“WOW is an important space of dialogue and action which unites women from diverse backgrounds from across Australia and the world,” Ms Oscar said.
“I look forward to working together and ensuring that the voices of First Nations women and girls are at the forefront of Australia’s fight to achieve gender equality.”
Just some of the other sessions happening at WOW Logan include the following.
– On Friday 15 June, local Year 10 and 11 students will hear inspirational stories about finding their passion, overcoming adversity during times of crisis and creating the community and world they wish to live in. They will also have the chance to participate in interactive workshops and meet Logan women leaders through speed mentoring!
– The WOW Bites sessions will feature short talks, stories, readings and soapbox moments about amazing things women have done, fears conquered, lives changed. Made possible by QSuper, part of Australian Retirement Trust, the sessions are designed to engage and inspire audiences in new life insights, information, ideas, and ways of thinking.
– The marketplace will feature artists, businesses, and women’s organisations from across Logan showcasing a range of diverse products. It also offers free creative workshops including an opportunity to create your own protest posters and badges with Ethni and at lunchtime enjoy cultural performances showcasing the amazing talent and diversity of the region.
– The WOW Healing Space will draw on traditions, healing and ceremony practised by women across cultures and centuries providing workshops and demonstrations.
– The MATE Bystander team from Griffith University will lead a session on the role of the bystander in addressing coercive behaviour.
Amidst the learning and inspiration will also be amazing entertainment. Apocalipstick is an all-star team of cabaret entertainment by Polytoxic & Friends that will provide a spectacular opening performance on Friday night. The Festival will close in just as much style with the Ailan Songs Project – a collaborative work with senior Torres Strait Island songwomen and leading Australian Indigenous singer and songwriter Jessie Lloyd exploring historical songs revealing the exciting history of the Torres Straits and the adventures during the pearl diving and seafaring days, accompanied by a community choir led by Aunty Ruth Ghee.
The Queensland Government is the principal partner of the WOW Australia 2022 program, alongside strategic partners Griffith University, QSuper, part of Australian Retirement Trust, and the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation supporting Brisbane-based non-profit organisation Of One Mind to deliver the WOW Australia program.
Global Advisor for the WOW Foundation and Executive Producer of WOW Australia, Cathy Hunt, said the team was thrilled to bring to Logan a packed programme of conversations, workshops and performances to celebrate the achievements of women and girls living in the city and surrounding areas.
“It is the first time the festival has been held in Logan and we are delighted to have worked with a terrific team of local women to develop this program share stories, engage in new ideas and also
laugh and have fun. It will give us all the chance to rethink the world in which we want to live, value women’s work and find solutions to ongoing issues of gender discrimination’.
“It is encouraging to see the Queensland Government and our partners continue to recognise the role our conversations and celebrations play in the lives of women and girls,” Ms Hunt said.
Strategic partners and advocates for gender equality, Griffith University and QSuper, part of Australian Retirement Trust, continue to support the WOW Australia initiative and enable these events to take place. Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund, an Australian Government Initiative, and the Australia Council for the Arts further enables WOW Australia to bring these important celebrations to regional Queensland. The Tim Fairfax Family Foundation also supports the events, recognising the role WOW Australia celebrations play in building the capacity of communities to improve their vibrancy, connectedness, and resilience.
WOW Festivals and events have now taken place in more than 30 locations on six continents, presented in partnership with UK charity The WOW Foundation, whose director Jude Kelly CBE founded WOW in 2008 and launched the first Festival in 2010.
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 over 2 million people in 17 countries on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, Taiwan, 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.
Over the last 11 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 the Southbank Centre.
About WOW Australia
Of One Mind (OOM), is a cultural enterprise formed by Cathy Hunt & Leigh Tabrett in 2014 to promote cultural activities & to enhance the cultural life of the community by developing & supporting cultural activities which address or communicate pressing social issues & create lasting cultural change through social innovations.
The driving force behind WOW (Women of the World) festivals in Australia for 7 years, OOM initiated the partnership with Sydney Writers Festival in 2013 & WOW at Footscray Community Arts Centre in 2016. OOM’s main focus has been in working with the Katherine Community since 2013 with 3 WOW festivals, producing WOW Brisbane 2015, WOW at Festival 2018 (part of the Commonwealth Games Cultural Program) which included a QLD Regional Program & WOW Australia 2020 – postponed due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Pivoting to a regional program for 2021 only WOW Charleville took place in June, with all other events postponed or curtailed due to lockdowns.
The Patrons of WOW Australia are the Hon. Quentin Bryce and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO.
