WOW at Festival 2018

CONTENTS
PASS & TICKETINFO.
Welcome 04
What is WOW? 06
Everyday at WOW 08
Exhibitions 08
Performances 12
Ticketed Events 16
Marketplace and Healing Space 17
Opening Night 18
Closing Night 19
Friday Day Program and Calendar 20
Saturday Day Program and Calendar 30
Sunday Day Program and Calendar 40
Notes 51
Thank you 52
Partners 53
Acknowledgement
WOW at Festival 2018 is held on Turrbal and Jagera lands, on the north and the south
of River Maiwar in the City of Brisbane, also known as Meanjin. Following thousands
of years of story, art, and sharing, this WOW Festival seeks to honour tradition and
make vital connections through new stories and a unique program centred on women’s
strengths and all peoples’ relationships.
Presented by
Principal Partner
WOW Pass
Buy a WOW Pass — be it for
one, two days of your choice
or for the whole weekend
(3-day pass) — to gain access
to most events as you pick and
mix your own timetable of talks,
workshops and performances.
Ticketed events
You can top up your WOW pass
with tickets to the ticketed
events taking place at the
Festival. Check out the website
www.wowaustralia.com.au and
www.qpac.com.au
Ticket sales
Online https://
brisbanepowerhouse.org/
festivals/wow-at-festival-2018/
Phone +61 7 3358 8600
In person Brisbane Powerhouse
Box Office 119 Lamington Street,
New Farm
Box office opening hours Mon–
Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 12–4pm, 60
mins prior to the performance
start time.
Transaction fees A $5.95
transaction fee applies for all
bookings (online, over the phone
and over the counter). You will
receive a confirmation email
when you book online, and a
confirmation number when
booking over the phone.
Online purchase When
purchasing online, you can
choose to receive your tickets
via Mobile Ticket, print-athome
ezyTicket, regular
mail or for collection at the
Box Office. For full ticketing
terms, please check out
brisbanepowerhouse.org
Registration on the day
All WOW at Festival 2018
participants and ticket
holders must register each
day to receive a wristband at
the registration desk in the
entrance area.
QPAC final night concert
Songs That Made Me, 7pm
Friday 8th April, QPAC Concert
Hall — www.qpac.com.au with
special discounts for WOW
ticket holders.
Other useful
information
Access information
Wheelchair and special needs
seating is available at all
theatre performances. All
levels of Brisbane Powerhouse
are accessible by lift. The
Turbine Platform can be
accessed via ramp. Wheelchair
accessible toilets are located
on all levels. Please let the
Powerhouse Box Office know
of any requirements when you
make your booking.
Companion cards We’re happy
to accept companion cards for
events unless otherwise stated.
Please show your companion
card when collecting your tickets
Auslan interpreting will
be provided for a number
of sessions each day.
Further information will be
available on the WOW at
Festival 2018 website —
www.wowaustralia.com.au.
Assisted listening Hearing
loops are available in the
Powerhouse Theatre and Visy
Theatre. Please notify Box Office
at the time of booking should
you require a Hearing Loop. Our
hearing loop has an earpiece
that sits over your ear and may
be used without a hearing aid.
Babies and children welcome
volunteer assistance will be
available for assisting managing
parents with children. The River
Studio downstairs (at river level)
will be available for parents
and children as a chill zone and
relaxation space. Please note there
are no creche facilities on-site.
Concessionary child care support
may be available on application
to: admin@wowaustralia.com.au
conditions apply.
Food and drink a range of food
and drink will be available in
the Marketplace and from
Bar Alto and Watt within the
Brisbane Powerhouse building.
03

WELCOME
Quentin Bryce —
Patron, WOW in
Australia
Jude Kelly CBE — Artistic
Director, Southbank Centre
Founder, WOW
Cathy Hunt and Leigh Tabrett —
Executive Producers WOW
at Festival 2018
Welcome to WOW, a celebration of the women of the
Of the 2.3 billion people who
I founded WOW eight years ago out of my belief in
Global sporting events cost vast sums of money
Commonwealth.
live in Commonwealth member
celebration, its power to generate optimism, and to
to stage, and the inevitable question for host
The Queensland Government is extremely proud to
support this uplifting and life-changing event, which
is part of Festival 2018 and the Gold Coast 2018
Commonwealth Games (GC2018).
countries, nearly one third are
young women and girls of 29 years
or younger. Many have wonderful
life prospects, and will go on to be
leaders in their fields and heads of
unleash the energy that makes action and change
possible. In the face of systemic inequity and levels
of violence sometimes unbearable to contemplate,
I wanted to make a Festival — open to people of all
backgrounds — a place of warmth, inclusiveness
communities, when all the excitement is over, is
“What did we really get out of that?” Our answer
was this Festival — a project which would draw
attention to the lives of women and girls across
the Commonwealth, and leave an enduring
GC2018 is making history as the most inclusive
Commonwealth Games of all time, with an equal number
of events for female and male athletes. WOW celebrates
this defining moment and places Brisbane at the centre
of global discussions around gender equality.
Over the next three days, you will hear from extraordinary
women and girls from across the Commonwealth doing
amazing things to change their lives and the future of
their communities.
It is through sharing our stories, challenges and creative
ideas, and inspiring and empowering one another, that we
can tighten our grip on the baton of opportunity, and then
confidently pass it on.
Thank you for being a part of this special event at this very
special time for Queensland.
Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk mp
Premier of Queensland
great institutions and governments.
For the majority, however, even
some of the most basic human
rights — like adequate food and
shelter, access to literacy and
education — are not assured. For
the world to prosper, and to live in
peace, this has to change. In this
first WOW celebrating the lives
of women of the Commonwealth,
we bring together women from
vastly different traditions and
life circumstances but with a
common characteristic: they are
all making this change happen.
They have extraordinary stories
to tell, experiences to share, and
ideas to excite and challenge us.
I am delighted to be part of these
discussions, and to see and hear
from the young women in whose
hands so much of our future rests.
and fun, in which we could all, together, celebrate
the spirit, resilience and achievements of women,
and imagine a better future. I called it WOW —
Women of the World because I wanted that comicbook
explosive sound: a whoop of admiration and
amazement. It says, ‘If you’re a woman, or you
know a woman, this is for you’.
The connection with the Commonwealth Games,
proposed and led so brilliantly by Cathy Hunt
and Leigh Tabrett and the women of Brisbane is
now part of our strategy: to make WOW a core
part of major events worldwide and to use the
opportunity to illuminate and explore progress
and obstacles to gender equality. Though the
Commonwealth has its own fraught history and
legacy, the women and girls of the member states
can use the connections forged in different times
to pursue a new and equal agenda.
This will be a wonderful fun event. It will also
bear new fruit, create new approaches, and
instigate bold ideas. I’m so proud to be part of it.
legacy for all the individuals who participate.
We were greatly assisted in this ambition by
Southbank Centre, the Queensland Government
and the Commonwealth Secretariat and Games
Federation where we found an alignment of
values, and warm support.
We have many people to thank — our incredible
speakers and artists; our wonderful staff and
volunteers, our generous partners and especially
the remarkable individual women donors who
supported us from the beginning, and brought
us ideas and contacts. We hope this association
is as rewarding for you as it is for us. Most of all,
we want to thank the many extraordinary First
Nation women who are part of this event, as
performers and artists, speakers, workers, and
as our guides and advisors. We thank you for your
generosity and wisdom, and your willingness to
share: it has shaped our thinking throughout.
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05
Photographer Sara Shamsavari

WHAT IS WOW?
Panels and
Conversations
WOW Bites
WOW Bites are short talks,
Workshops
WOW looks after your mind
At the heart of WOW are
the conversations we need
to have, led by people who
have created change in
their countries and in their
communities. These sessions
explore many of the issues
women, girls, and those who
readings and soapbox moments
on a wide range of subjects
designed to inspire, engage
and introduce new ideas.
International guests will join
local Queensland women in
these sessions which will take
place throughout the weekend.
body and soul! If you want more
action, learn new skills or just
relax and be pampered join in
one of our workshop sessions.
WOW Speed
Mentoring
Performances and
exhibitions
Ticketed
shows
Under 10’s
Feminist Corner
identify as women and girls,
in Queensland and in other
Commonwealth countries
talked about during our
‘Thinkins’, issues faced today
by all those working towards
a more gender equal world.
WOW Bites have been made
possible through support
from QSuper.
A WOW favourite — join experts
from across many fields —
artists, scientists, architects,
journalists, entrepreneurs,
WOW speakers and women with
no label at all for four 10 – 15
minute mentoring sessions over
A full program of free exhibitions
and performances (including
the opening night) is scheduled
across the weekend free to all
ticket holders. The performance
program will feature a range of
local Queensland artists in a
Four separate ticketed shows
form part of WOW at the
Brisbane Powerhouse; the
internationally acclaimed
show Hot Brown Honey, a world
premiere of Veiqia21 from
Vou Fiji, Thoda Dhyaan Se
From the moment they enter
the world (maybe even before,
according to researchers), our
children are observing and
absorbing society’s gender
rules — and the pattern is
pretty well learned by age
an hour long session. Share your
celebration and demonstration
(Be Careful) from Indian artist
seven. WOW will host two
challenges, exchange ideas and
of the diverse and vibrant cultural
Mallika Taneja and the final
interactive, creative artists
stories and potentially identify
content we have in our State.
night concert presented in
led sessions.
a new mentor. Sign up through
our website when you have
bought your day pass or when
you register.
This program has been supported
by the Australia Council for the
Arts and Arts Queensland within
the Department of Environment
and Science.
partnership with QPAC ‘Songs
That Made Me’.
Under 10’s (Girls Only) unpick
those rules, and imagine a
world without them — and tell
us the changes they want to
see in their future.
Under 10’s (Boys Only)
explore how the rules might
be different for girls, what
that means for girls’ lives and
what boys can do to help build
gender equality.
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EXHIBITIONS
Brisbane
Powerhouse from
28 March to 8 April
WOW at Festival 2018
celebrates photography
as the medium through
which to ‘point a lens’ at
the lives of women across
the Commonwealth —
celebrating their cultures,
their strengths, their
hopes and dreams for the
future. The exhibitions
program will also include
the insallation Fearless by
Brisbane-based artist
Sue Loveday, thousands
of beautifully hand crafted
paper stars contributed
by star weavers around
the world. Inspired by
the One Million Stars to
End Violence project’s
aim to create a society
that’s free of violence
and full of hope.
J.D ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Hairstyles
and Headdresses
FREE
Hayward Touring Southbank Centre London and Of One Mind
present the first Australian tour of over 40 images by the
acclaimed African photographer J.D ‘Okhai Ojeikere for WOW
at Festival 2018. Ojeikere is widely regarded as one of the most
important photographers to emerge from Africa in the last sixty
years and it was his Hairstyles series — a personal project which
began in 1968 — that brought international acclaim.
The styles became known by their nicknames, which emerged
from either the geographic area they came from, or from the
natural and manmade forms they imitated. Ojeikere was driven
by a desire to record these artistic styles as cultural artefacts,
however fleeting, before they disappeared in the wake of cultural
modernisation being experienced across Africa following postcolonisation.
The Hairstyles project, spanning more than forty
years and including over 1000 images, was finally drawn to a
close by the artists’ death early in 2013.
Jody Haines: #IAMWOMAN
Be heard! Be seen! Be you!
#IAMWOMAN by photographic artist Jody
Haines is an ongoing photographic portrait
project exploring the Female Gaze, Female
Identity and the visual language of gender and
representation of Women. The work, which
began at WOW Melbourne in 2017 arose out of a
desire to subvert the status quo of daily female
visual representation seen across print media
and social media platforms. The work aims
to develop a different type of female image,
one that creates an equality and care for an
individual’s presence. Across the exhibitions
you’ll discover a returned gaze and a mandate
for women to be seen, not as an object but as an
individual — strong, beautiful and complex.
Yumi Sanap Strong — Lets stand
strong together
Yumi Sanap Strong showcases photographs and
stories from human rights defenders in Papua
New Guinea (PNG). The exhibition explores the
causes, impacts and solutions around violence
related to sorcery accusations. It challenges
the usual representations of the issue and
explores the complexities around cultural
understandings and the structural inequalities
people experience. These photographs and
stories by human rights defenders present
solutions that harness the strength of
individuals and communities who advocate for
the value of human life. This is a collaborative
initiative among PNG based organisations in
collaboration with Queensland University of
Technology. Women from PNG will be appearing
in conversations and in WOW Bites throughout
the Festival.
Curators: Verena Thomas, Jackie Kauli
Human Rights Organisations: Kup Women for
Peace, Kafe Women’s Association, Nazareth
Centre for Rehabilitation, Kedu Seif Haus.
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Abebe,1975. J.D ‘Okhai Ojeikere and Onile Gogoro, 1975, J.D ‘Okhai Ojeikere. #Bruja, Tania. image by Jody Haines
Eastern Highlands Province PNG,
Photographer Jacobeth Sigao — Goroka
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Outcast Arts: Red River
Lack of infrastructure and
digital connectivity, combined
with vast distances creates an
insurmountable barrier between
metropolitan and regional
Australia. The voices of regions
go unheard despite the wealth
of knowledge, passion, pain and
humour our remote communities
have to share. The Outcast
team has traveled to remote
communities and worked with
regional partners to capture
sounds and imagery from some
of the most isolated parts of our
country. The Red River installation
invites audiences to share the
stories of the resilient women
who live there.
Women Dreaming
Women Dreaming celebrates much-loved
women whose work doesn’t always get
recognition outside of their communities or
professions. These women are Aboriginal
and/or Torres Strait Islander sisters and
Elders from across South East Queensland,
chosen for their leadership by Dr Jackie
Huggins, Dr Sandra Phillips and Dr Chelsea
Bond, themselves Aboriginal women of high
achievement This large-scale projection
work by photomedia artist Jody Haines
(Trawlwoolway) is led by these women,
their faces, their emotions, their wisdom.
The images acknowledge our sisters’
strength and womanhood, their community
and knowledge, their songline and their
sovereignty. The looping projection will
be screened on the outer wall of Brisbane
Powerhouse every night from sunset.
The Future is Female
Leah Denbok: Nowhere to Call Home
Nowhere to Call Home is a powerful collection of
photographs and stories of people experiencing
homelessness by 17-year-old Canadian photographer
Leah Denbok. Across these images Leah hopes
to humanize people experiencing homelessness
and shine a spotlight on the problem. For the
past four years Leah has been mentored by
National Geographic photographer and Fellow
Joel Sartore. When Leah was just 14, Joel said of
her, “If she sticks with it, I think she’s well on her
way to becoming not just a good photographer,
but a great photographer. And I’m not kidding.”
The inspiration for this work has been Leah’s mother
Sarah who is travelling with her to WOW at Festival
2018 where they tell their story. Leah will also be one
of the photographers in residence for the event. Their
involvement has been made possible through support
from the Government of Canada.
Working with the WOW London
team we embarked on a project to
seek views, from young women in
particular, on what needs to happen
to bring about gender equality in
Commonwealth countries. The
images of the posters they created
will be projected throughout the
Powerhouse during the Festival
from communities in Australia, Fiji,
Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Ghana, and the UK. The views
expressed together with the ideas
that emerge in this Festival will
be gathered and presented to The
Secretary-General Commonwealth,
The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
on Sunday 8th April.The images
can also be seen at the Sage Hotel
James St our partner hotel for WOW
at Festival 2018.
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Lucy, by Leah Denbok
Photographer Jordin Steele
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PERFORMANCES
Free with day or weekend pass
Turbine Platform
Friday 11.30am (30 mins)
and Saturday 12pm (30 mins)
Songbirds of Childers
Songbirds of Childers involves artists Melinda Wells and
Roz Pappalardo giving regional women a voice through
song combating social isolation, bringing women together
to share their stories and collaboratively write and record
songs. This project was managed by Creative Regions and
supported through the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation.
The Wall — Powerhouse Plaza
Friday 7.20pm (30 mins) and
Saturday 7pm (30 mins)
Ghosts of a Goddess —
Vulcana Women’s Circus
Turbine Platform
Friday 5.15pm (2 hours)
Knockoff — WOW Edition
An exhilarating vertical performance on the front wall of the
Brisbane Powerhouse at dusk, using abseiling and dancing in
harnesses. What does it mean to be an icon? Lifted up, looked up to
and imitated, then pulled and pushed and devoured as they crack
and fall. Be enthralled as the ghosts fly, swing, sail and seduce us.
If there’s one thing Brisbane knows how to do, it’s finish the week
with a bang. For one night at WOW one of Brisbane’s favourite comedy
events has teamed up with some of the city’s brightest and most
entertaining performers to bring you this special two hour variety
show. This killer all female line up will start your weekend right.
Turbine Platform
Sunday 12.20pm (40 mins)
Kardajala Kirridarra
The descendants of a mysterious bush woman
from the Northern Territory, these compelling
women are from the communities of Marlinja
and Kulumindini (Elliott) and together with
Melbourne based producer Beatrice they form
Kardajala Kirridarra, or ‘Sandhill Women’. Singing
in both Mudburra and English, they tell the story
of the connection between Aboriginal women
and country as a reminder about the importance
of women as creators.
Turbine Platform
Friday 8.30pm
(2 hours)
Up Late — Venus Flytrap
Featuring a who’s who of Brisbane rap queens:
Miss Blanks, Jesswar, Kaylah Truth, Aywin and
G.Elenil; The Venus Fly Trap is an all femme
hip hop cypher curated by visual artist and
DJ, Hannah Brontë. Hannah’s work promotes
First Nation women and sistas of colour being
front and centre and will include a large sitethemed
art installation to support the femmemilita
crew, whose performance will bring
the sculptures to life. This up-late show will
celebrate and explore life from very distinct
perspectives of young non-binary, lesbian, trans
and black women reclaiming their space in a
male-dominated genre that objectifies women.
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Turbine Platform
Saturday 12.40pm (20 mins)
Sudha Manian — Indian Sitar Player
Deeply rooted in Indian Classical Music traditions, Sudha Manian
started her training in music and dance at the age of nine with
her gurus in Hyderabad, India. As a solo artist in Australia, Sudha
considered one of the finest sitar players in Queensland, has
performed traditional Indian Classical Music on a number of
platforms and collaborated with diverse artists to compose,
create and perform.
Turbine Platform
Saturday 8.30pm (2 hours)
Up Late — Femioke
Feminist karaoke, inclusionary and celebratory, a space for all
feminist identifiers, especially young women and non-gender
identifying individuals to sing and be heard. Take the shackles off
your feet so you can dance because Oops!…we did it again, and
FEMIOKE is back! Are you going to tell us what you want, what you
really, really want? Is it R-E-S-P-E-C-T and no scrubs? Pick up the
mic and sing your favourite feminist anthems or take back misogynist
songs. Emceed by local karaoke desperate and avid feminist, Amy-
Clare. Hai Si Ja, hold tight! Originally premiered at Metro Arts
Turbine Platform
Saturday 5.15pm (45 mins)
Fan Girls
Turbine Platform
Saturday 6.10pm (50 mins)
Ruckus Slam — Who Run’s The World?
A 13-year-old girl told Yve Blake that she would ‘slit someone’s
throat to be with the man I love’. She was talking about Harry
Styles. Award winning Theatremaker Yve Blake will present
a selection of songs from ‘FANGIRLS’, a brand-new musical
inspired by interviews with hundreds of teenage fangirls. It’s a
story of young women, the stories we tell them, and the ways we
underestimate them — with a sound world that is best described
as a ‘Beyonce Concert meets Rave meets Church’. Yve’s here to
tell us what she found, what a twelve year old girl taught her
about womanhood, and why Fangirls are her heroes.
Turbine Platform
Saturday 11.30am (20 mins)
Yuki Taniguchi — Butoh Dancer
A spellbinding performer, Yuki Taniguchi’s
artistic journey began in Japan with an interest
in the power of sound and movement. Trained
in Japan in Butoh at Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio
under Kazuo’s son, Yoshito Ohno she has been
sharing this unique Japanese dance theatre form
through workshops and performances since
coming to Australia in 2010.
Turbine Studio
Sunday 2pm (2 hours)
Doing Dancing
New Farm Park
Saturday 2.45-3.45pm
The Beautiful Game
Football as we know it is descended from an unruly
medieval game in which one entire village pitted
itself against another. The Beautiful Game takes us
back to these wild roots in an exuberant roaming
spectacle. Featuring armour, an oversized football,
and bike-riding referees, this performance sees
women and non-binary people step onto the
footy pitch, ready to do whatever it takes for a
common goal. This project has been created by
Snapcat, a creative collaboration between the
Australian artists Renae Coles and Anna Dunnill
and presented as a part of Co-MMotion: Brisbane
City Council’s Temporary Art Program 2018.
Ladies to the front. What can you do with two minutes on the mic?
A slam is an open mic competition where anyone with a poem,
rap, story, or grocery list they want to share get their time to shine.
Judged by randomly selected audience members it is a rowdy and
high energy event, where anything can happen and everyone gets a
say. Only original material. Just your voice and a stage. One of the
largest slam events in Australia, come and watch Brisbane’s wildly
popular Ruckus Slam run this female-only edition.
Famous feminist Gertrude Stein asks ‘What are the personal and
cultural histories of your body?’ Doing Dancing uses Steins text
with Australian dancers and real-time digital projection of the
dancers in the space. Walk around the performance to view the
motion and multiple interpretations of the text. Sit still and view
the sculptural formations of bodies. This durational performance
reflects on feminism and the potential movement of the female
body. Featuring Rhiannon Newton (dancer, choreographer) and
Benjamin Forster (acclaimed visual artist) performing with local
Queensland dancers.
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TICKETED SHOWS
Powerhouse Theatre
Wednesday 4 – Saturday 7 April 8pm (75 mins)
Hot Brown Honey
For WOW, Brisbane Powerhouse is presenting Hot Brown Honey
turning up the heat with lashings of sass and a hot pinch of
empowerment in the smash-hit, genre defying, firecracker of a
show that’s taken the world by storm. Steeped in the Word of The
Mother and packing a punch of Hip Hop politics, Hot Brown Honey
will make you laugh until you cry, clap until your hands bleed, dance
in the aisles and shake every part of what your mama gave you. With
lighting, music and costume set to ignite the change we want to be,
Hot Brown Honey is an extraordinary production that spins tradition
on its head, going above and beyond to challenge boundaries and
embrace resilience. Hot Brown Honey is unapologetically fierce,
defiantly shattering preconceptions in an explosion of colour, culture
and controversy. Fighting the power never tasted so sweet.
Visy Theatre
Saturday 7 April 7.45pm (30 mins)
Sunday 8 April 11.30am (30 mins)
ticketed performance
Free with WOW Pass. Bookings essential
wowaustralia.com.au
Thoda Dhyaan Se (Be Careful)
“Caution” is a central part of women’s life
experience in India. It is an ordered and
assimilated condition that is practiced with
rigor. Only in this way can women feel “safe”.
Thoda Dhyaan Se (Be Careful) is a satirical work
that challenges this notion of “security.”
The performance confronts the sad bond
between the way women dress and the atrocities
Thoda Dhyaan Se — David Wohlschlag
committed against them, as if the former begets
the latter. With irony and lightness, but also
precision and a provocative spirit, sole performer
from Delhi Mallika Taneja faces her audience
and offers them a text denouncing the hypocrisy.
MARKETPLACE
HEALING SPACE
Visy Theatre
Friday 6 April 7.30pm (40 mins)
Veiqia21 — World Premiere Vou
VEIQIA as it is traditionally known, was the custom commonly
bestowed on young Fijian women coming of age. The process
involves the traditional tattooing of young women celebrating
and acknowledging the initial stages of a young girl undergoing
physical changes before or while entering womanhood. This
contemporary dance piece will reflect the once forgotten
ritualistic aspects that held utmost importance in the lives of
Fijian women, focusing specifically on how proudly celebrated
menstruation was for young women then, and how unnecessarily
stigmatised it is in today’s society. The Veiqia was symbolic,
signifying strength, resilience, resourcefulness and creativity in
the lives of these women. Today, the question that comes into play
is ‘What is a woman’s right of passage?’ Presented in association
with Bleach Festival.
Labyrinth and Performance Lawn
Friday 9am – 8pm
Saturday 8am – 8pm
Sunday 8am – 4pm
An integral part of any WOW, the marketplace will
feature artists, businesses, social enterprises and
women’s organisations from Queensland and the
Pacific. You will be able to join a circle of weavers,
sample beauty products made from traditional
bush medicine techniques and ingredients for
the Northern Territory, or purchase screen-
printed fabrics and unique artwork. And when
you need a break from shopping, sample locally
grown and brewed coffee whilst you select from
the tastes of the Commonwealth to satisfy your
cravings! The Healing Space will bring together
traditional healing practices. From morning Yoga
to meditation, Festival attendees will be able
to participate in a combination of information
sessions and healing demonstrations, bush
medicines, and beauty products in a purpose
built ‘venue’ on the performance lawn. Festival
goers will also be able to book in for one-on-one
treatments at an additional cost.
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Marketplace co-ordinated by
Access Community Services
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OPENING NIGHT
CLOSING NIGHT
Powerhouse Theatre
Thursday 5 April 5pm (90 mins)
Welcome Ceremony
Concert — Debe Neur — Women of Strength
and Beauty
WOW at Festival 2018 will kick off with a Traditional Welcome
Ceremony for guests by custodian, Songwoman Maroochy
Barambah of the Turrbal People. Joined by local community
representatives and dancers, Maroochy will then welcome our
visiting guest artists from First Nation’s communities of the
Commonwealth of Nations, Vou (Fiji), Digging Roots (Canada),
Mihirangi (New Zealand) in a call and response, interspersed
with local stories unique to the site and region.
This will be followed by a tribute
to female creativity, diversity,
strength and endurance, some of
Australia’s most impressive First
Nation female singer-songwriters
with their sisters from Canada,
New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and Fiji in a powerful and
symbolic musical collaboration,
as they deconstruct the meaning
of ‘beauty’ and appropriate the
word to celebrate identity and
culture, joy and pain, achievement
and hope, and shared experiences
as First Nation women.
Concert Hall, Queensland
Performing Arts Centre
Sunday 8 April 7pm (90 mins)
Songs That Made Me
Staged for Queensland Music Festival 2017,
Songs That Made Me will once again bring
together Australian powerhouses Deborah
Conway, Clare Bowditch and Hannah Macklin
for the closing night of WOW at Festival 2018.
Featuring voices from across our diverse
Commonwealth, they will be joined by Fiji’s
“Queen of Pop” Laisa Lualala Vulakoro,
ShoShona Kish from Juno Award winning
Canadian duo Digging Roots, proud
Wannidilyakwa songstress Emily Wurramara, and
vocal ensemble The Verandah ChiX alongside a
stellar all-women band: Jess Green (guitar), Helen
Svoboda (bass guitar) and Myka Wallace (drums).
In celebration of women in music, they will share
stories of their influences, artistic journeys and
the landmark songs that have sound-tracked
their lives. The evening will also feature a special
announcement of the 2018 Carol Lloyd Award winner,
an award that was established in honour of the
late Carol Lloyd — Australia’s original rock chick.
This event has been made possible with support
from QSuper.
Book your ticket at www.qpac.com.au.
Discounts available to WOW ticket holders
Debe Neur, translates from
Meriam-Mer, Creative Director
Ruth Ghee’s language from the
Eastern Torres Strait Islands as
‘pretty or good girl’; and features:
Emily Wurramara (Aus), Saraima
Navara (PNG), Daphanbal
Yunipingu (Aus), ShoShona Kish
(Canada), Laisa Vulakoro (Fiji)
and Mihirangi (NZ).
Debe Neur is made possible
with support from the Australian
Government Department of
Communication and the Arts and
the Australia Council for the Arts.
Tickets are available for
2 and 3 day ticket holders
for the Opening Night Welcome
Ceremony and Concert. Please
book at www.wowaustralia.com.
au limited availability
18
19

FRIDAY
6 APRIL
8 — 9am
Laugh Out Loud
Funky Yoga
Performance Lawn/
Healing Space
Join Sadhna and Roushini
to kick off your daily WOW
experience by starting the
day in the right way — feeling
happier, healthier, focused
and grounded. Limber up
as they lead you through
a combination of simple
stretches, yogic breathing and
movement, and stimulated
laughter to help change
mindsets and improve general
health and wellness. No yoga
experience?
Also Saturday and Sunday
9 — 10.30am
Femocracy —
Are Our Democracies
Failing Women?
Powerhouse Theatre
It is defined as ‘government of the
people, by the people, for the people’.
But look at any democratically
elected parliament, and what you
see is — middle aged, middle
class men. What can we do to make
our system of government both
more representative of, and more
accountable to, the 52% majority in
all its diversity. WOW Founder Jude
Kelly leads an international panel,
including those elected to represent
us, to discuss. Speakers will include
from Australia Co-Chair of the
National Congress of Australia’s First
Peoples Dr Jackie Huggins am, from
Malaysia women’s rights campaigner
Zainah Anwar, from Canada
Senator Kim Pate, and British High
Commissioner to Australia Her
Excellency Menna Rawlings CMG.
Senator Pate’s participation
has been supported by the
Government of Canada
10 — 11am
WOW Bites
Turbine Studio
Our first WOW Bites session at
Festival 2018 will include amazing
women from Brisbane, the
Pacific and Regional Queensland
covering a wide range of stories
from the funny to the serious.
Rachel Smith on being
Underspent and the joy and
benefits of breaking the habit
of Impulse Shopping.
Sharon Baghwan Rolls from
Fiji will share her journey with
Fiji and the Pacific’s first mobile
suitcase radio station.
Renee Crilly and Paula Chalmers
from regional Queensland talk
about how they are developing
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander girls to change
communities through the
Urangan Girls Academy.
Sally Strobridge, on The Silence
— how to build a bridge between
deaf and hearing worlds.
10am – 12.15pm
What Shall I Wear?
Turbine Studio
What to wear, how to wear it
and where to wear it to is an
everyday question for many
of us. Do we change what we
wear according to where we
find ourselves in a city? What
does it mean to ‘cover up’ and
‘provoke’ with the clothing
that we choose? A workshop
exploring body, clothes, cities
and questions of gender
through theatre games and
exercises. Over the two hours,
participants will be invited to
tease out questions around
clothing, safety, our bodies and
how we see them.
Conceptualised and Conducted
by — Mallika Taneja and
Samita Chatterjee.
10 — 11am
Be Someone who
does Something
Rooftop Terrace
From sexist remarks in the
bar, to keeping your best mate
safe when she/he has had too
much to drink: do you know
how to be a good bystander?
Join this workshop with the
MATE team from Griffith
University teaching us how
to be agents for change in
preventing violence.
10 — 11.30am
Show us Your Balls
& Hoops
Stores Studio
Run away with the circus for
a moment in a challenge-bychoice
class for all fitness
levels to try juggling, hula
hoops, partner acro-balance,
a touch of aerials and more!
This basic skills workshop
from Vulcana Women’s Circus
will be presented everyday
at WOW.
Also Saturday and Sunday
20
21
Dr Jackie Huggins
Sharon Baghwan Rolls

FRIDAY
6 APRIL
11am — 12.15pm
The Storytellers —
Cultural Leaders
Speak Out
Visy Theatre
Who gets to tell the stories
on the big stage? Who gets to
decide who our heroes are?
And with the fallout from the
avalanche of sexual assault
and harassment allegations in
Hollywood and beyond, how does
the cultural economy of the 21st
century need to change? In this
conversation you will hear the
views of leading women cultural
leaders and creators including
Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin, a
Narungga, Wirangu, Wotjobaluk
woman well known throughout
the Australian Indigenous, and
international arts communities.
award winning writer Michelle
Law musical director, performer
and activator Busty Beatz and
Juno Award winning Canadian
musician ShoShona Kish.
Facilitated by Leanne de Souza.
11am — 12.15pm
The Web We Want
Powerhouse Theatre
These days we go on-line to do
everything from paying our bills
to turning on the lights. With
so much of our personal info
floating around on the cloud,
how do we make sure that
we’re the ones in charge, that
we know where it’s safe to go
and what to do when things go
wrong. It’s not called a “web”
by accident! Australian ESafety
Commissioner Julie Inham
Grant will lead a conversation
with local and international
guests including Ashleigh Smith
founder of the New Zealand
bullying prevention organisation
Sticks ‘n’ Stones and via skype
from London author, engineer
and broadcaster Yassmin
Abdel-Magied on how we make
our brave new world a safer
place for all.
This session will be Facilitated
by Professor Anne Tiernan
Griffith University
1 — 2.15pm
Under Whose Law?
Powerhouse Theatre
Across the Commonwealth, colonial
governments enforced British law,
government practices and culture,
overruling customary laws, traditions
and systems of governance that had
been fine-tuned on Country and in
Community through centuries. This
session examines how women of
the First Nations are working for
their communities and families in
the face of this colonial power and
its ongoing legacies. Facilitated
by Dr Sandra Phillips Associate
Professor, at Jumbunna Institute for
Indigenous Education and Research,
UTS, and including Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Commissioner June Oscar ao, Tracey
McIntosh (Ngai Tūhoe) Professor of
Indigenous Studies at the University
of Auckland and Canadian author
and publisher Kateri Akiwenzie
Damm tell it like it is — and share
their hopes for the future.
Kateri Akiwenzie Damm’s participation has
been supported by the Government
of Canada.
1 — 2.15pm
Financial Feminism
— Entrepreneurs
for Change
Visy Theatre
Women everywhere are using
their creativity and business
skills to build social enterprises
that deliver more than a
financial return. Others are
investing their own dollars
in those women making that
change. Be inspired by the
stories and projects from
across the Commonwealth
facilitated by Australian
entrepreneur and Board
Member of Good Shepherd
Microfinance Michelle Redfern
and including an award winning
panel — Winnifred Selby Co-
Founder of the Ghana Bamboo
Bikes Initiative, Gulalai Ismail,
Chairperson of AWARE Girls in
Pakistan and from Queensland
founders of Femeconomy
Alanna Bastin Byrne and
Jade Collins.
1 — 2pm
WOW Bites
Rooftop Terrace
Bring your lunch to this second
session and listen to four very
different stories from women who
are changing the world in the Pacific
and Australia in sport, education, and
including remembering those women
who have gone before us.
Olivia Hargroder, presents ‘A Box
with No Lid’ — her drive to have
athletes with Downs syndrome
included in the Paralympics.
Millicent Barty, from the Solomon
Islands talking about Kastom
Kulture Klash and how she is
shifting traditional perspectives
of women in the Solomon Islands.
Annabelle Brayley who discovered
the hidden power of storytelling whilst
capturing the stories of Australian
women who had nursed in Vietnam.
Merita Wi-Kaitaia and Kurere Tuaputa
from the Cook Islands on the strength of
women in the Cook Islands community
and their participation in the One Million
Stars to End Violence project.
1 – 2pm
Bollywood
Dancing
Stores Studio
A unique cultural
experience combined
with fun and fitness. An
Interactive workshop,
where audiences
are taught popular
Bollywood moves by
Choreographer, Asha
Shah. People of all
ages, shapes, sizes,
and fitness levels are
welcome — come
prepared to have fun,
shake your shoulders
and swing your hips
to this contagious
fusion style of dance!
22
23
Michelle Law
Julie Inham Grant June Oscar ao Winnifred Selby Merita Wi-Kaitaia

FRIDAY
6 APRIL
1 – 2.15pm
Online safety for
women and their
families
Turbine Studio
Access to all the positives that
technology and the internet can
bring is an essential aspect of
modern life. Connecting to family
and friends, and being able to
find trustworthy information and
advice depends on knowing how
to engage safely online.
Bring your phone or device
to this hands-on, interactive
workshop which will provide
practical information and
advice about how you can
stay in control of your online
experiences! Presented by
eSafetyWomen an initiative
of the Office of the eSafety
Commissioner funded by the
Australian Government.
1 – 2pm
Under 10’s Feminist
Corner (Girls only)
Graffiti Room
Are you a budding young
feminist? Feminism isn’t just
for grown-ups. In a workshop
with other young feminists you
can explore what being a girl
means and get tips on how to
start a campaign from your
bedroom. This session is for
girls aged 6 – 10 and for young
people only. This is a free
event but limited places must
be booked through admin@
wowaustralia.com.au. Led by
Brisbane Creative Producer
Katrina Torenbeek.
2.45 — 4pm
No Boundary Fence
— Gender Equality in
Regional, Rural and
Remote Australia
Powerhouse Theatre
In Australia, the term ‘remote
living’ conjures up images of vast
red plains, dense rainforests, wide
horizons, endless seas and skies
— full of adventure and possibility
for all comers. What is life really
like for the women and girls who
live outside our major cities?
Join Federal Sex Discrimination
Commissioner Kate Jenkins and
women from regional, remote and
rural Australia to hear about the
challenges for women and girls
in their worlds, and how they are
taking down the boundary fences.
Participants will include pastoralist
and connector of communities in the
Bush Maree Morton from Bundaberg
curator Trudie Leigo and Mayor
2.45 – 4pm
The Politics of Hair
Visy Theatre
From short hair to Afro hair,
from grey hair to no hair, from
body hair to ‘Brazilian’, loose,
plaited or covered — what is
it with hair and why does it
matter so much? We hear from
women who are redefining
age-old stereotypes about how
hair is related to femininity and
womanhood. Expect laughter,
personal stories and questions
of identity — and a chance
to join in the discussion with
Domino Pateman WOW Head
of Programmes in London,
from Brisbane via Botswana
Director of Psyched Solutions
Sharon Orapeleng, leading
Australian writer Michelle Law
and performer, educator and
psychotherapist for artists
Margi Brown Ash.
2.45 – 3.45pm
Speed Mentoring
Rooftop Terrace
A WOW favourite — join
experts from across many
fields — artists, scientists,
architects, journalists,
entrepreneurs, WOW speakers
and women with no label at
all for four 10 – 15 minute
mentoring sessions over an
hour long session. Share your
challenges, exchange ideas
and stories and potentially
identify a new mentor. If you
have purchased your day
pass sign up for the sessions
through our website or when
you register on the day.
2.45 – 3.45pm
WOW! Girls Skate
Brisbane Demo
Powerhouse Plaza
Girls Skate Brisbane is a
collective of skateboarders
from Brisbane who are trying
to build community and
connection by spreading the
visibility of women skating
and holding events that
give woman the chance to
learn from each other and
have fun. Come watch some
of the Girl Skate Brisbane
members who will provide
you with a demonstration
of skill and talent!
Vonda Malone, Torres Shire Council.
The session will be facilitated by
ABC Regional Editor for Queensland
Cathie Schnitzerling.
24
Kate Jenkins
Margi Brown Ash
25

FRIDAY
6 APRIL
2.45 – 3.45pm
Open the Envelopes
2.45 – 3.45pm
Henna Hands
4.15 – 5.15pm
WOW Bites
4.15 — 5.30pm
Shame
4.15 — 5.30pm
Being Diplomatic
4.15 — 5.30pm
Journaling Courage
Turbine Studio
Graffiti Room
Turbine Studio
Powerhouse Theatre
Visy Theatre
Graffiti Room
Why don’t like talking about
An introduction to the
For the final WOW Bites of
According to psychologists,
What does it take to be a
This interactive workshop
money? In fact, even more
beautiful sacred body
Friday four more extraordinary
shame is one of the most
leader in the foreign service?
designed to build self-esteem
than religion, sex and politics
adornment called “henna”
local women together with
destructive emotions in the
An international panel of
and confidence will guide you
— personal finances are
by GBS. This workshop is
international guests share their
human kitbag. It has been
female Heads of Missions in
to identify your own leadership
THE most difficult thing to
designed to give the necessary
inspirational stories.
used for centuries to control
Australia lift the lid on their
capability. Participants will
talk about. This workshop
presented by the experts from
QSuper provides an open and
comfortable opportunity to
talk with objective experts.
Get hands on to understand
your financial situation, and
take away practical strategies
to be confident for life.
Because discussing money
matters to us all.
tools and knowledge to begin
using henna for body art for
friends and family. All henna
material will be provided.
From cone control to creating
simple designs, you’ll know
it all by the end of the class!
You can also take home the
henna cones you work with &
practice with it on your friends
and family (also Sunday).
Angela Lynch on an Australian
first — the Penda App for
financial empowerment.
Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala rock
climber and activist on how you
too can climb your own Everest
by the first Sri Lankan to do so.
Sheridan Darroch sharing her
experience of living and playing
sport with Cystic Fibrosis.
Freda Haihe from PNG on her
personal life experiences and
how her studies in Australia will
benefit her community.
the behaviour of women and
girls, and people who do not
conform to society’s gender
expectations. This panel
discusses how we can lift the
burden of shame. Speakers
include author and advocate
Jasvinder Sanghera founder of
UK charity Karma Nirvana that
supports both men and women
affected by honour based
abuse and forced marriages,
award winning Australian
author and campaigner Jane
Caro and First Nation arts
careers to share experiences
from the front lines across the
globe. From war zones and
natural disasters to political
intrigue, these women have
road tested the meaning
of 'being diplomatic' when
stakes are high. Whether
it's development initiatives
that empower women and
children, to challenges in the
boardrooms of power, gender is
often at the heart of the matter.
Angela Bogdan, Consul General
of Canada in Sydney hosts this
recognise how any adversity
you may have experienced in
your life, will have given you a
toolbox of developed resources
for leadership — led by Janine
Lee of Feathersome.
leader Lee-Ann Tjunypa
candid and open discussion.
Buckskin contributor to
Jane’s 2017 publication
‘Unbreakable’. Facilitated
by Director of Grace Street
with Jane Connolly, Consul
General of Ireland, Sydney and
Billie Moore, Consul General
of New Zealand, Sydney.
4.15 – 5.15
Learning Circle
Riverbend Terrace
Consulting Balveen Ajimal.
Women leaders share their
own stories of the Lockhart
River Aboriginal community
and of the Puuya (heart or
lifeforce) Foundation’s journey
to develop every day leaders,
empowering them to shape
their own future.
26
27
Jane Caro
Jasvinder Sanghera
Angela Bogdan

FRIDAY
Ticketed WOW Pass Free
6 APRIL
Powerhouse
Theatre
Visy
Theatre
Rooftop
Terrace
Turbine
Studio
Graffiti
Room
Turbine
Platform
Riverbend
Terrace
Stores
Studio
River
Studio
The
Wall
Labrynth
Powerhouse
Plaza
Performance
Lawn
QPAC
8am
9am
10am
11am
12pm
9 — 10.30am
Femocracy - Are
Our Democracies
Failing Women?
Opening Address
11am — 12.15pm
The Web
We Want
11am — 12.15pm
The Story Tellers
- Cultural Leaders
Speak Out
10 — 11am
Be Someone Who
Does Something
10 — 11am
WOW Bites
10am — 12.15am
What Shall
I Wear?
11.30am — 1pm
Songbird of
Childers
Debe Neur
10 — 11.30am
Show Us Your
Balls & Hoops
9am – 5pm
WOW
Marketplace
Presented
by ACSL
9am – 8pm
WOW
Marketplace
Presented
by ACSL
8 — 9am
Laugh Out Loud
Funky Yoga
10am — 5pm
Healing Space
(Scheduled
Sessions)
1pm
2pm
1 — 2.15pm
Under
Whose Law?
1 — 2.15pm
Financial Feminism
— Entrepreneurs
for Change
1 — 2pm
WOW Bites
1 — 2.15pm
Online Safety
for Women &
their families
1 — 2pm
Under 10’s Feminist
Corner (Girls only)
1 — 2pm
Bollywood
Dancing
3pm
2.45 — 4pm
No Boundary
Fence
2.45 — 4pm
Politics of Hair
2.45 — 3.45pm
Speed Mentoring
2.45 — 3.45pm
Open the
Envelope
2.45 — 3.45pm
Henna Hands
2.45 — 3.45pm
WOW! Girls Skate
Brisbane Demo
4pm
5pm
4.15 — 5.30pm
Shame
4.15 — 5.30pm
Being
Diplomatic
4.15 — 5.15pm
WOW Bites
4.15 — 5.15pm
Journaling
Courage
4.15 — 5.15pm
Learning Circle
6pm
5.15 — 7.15pm
Knockoff -
WOW Edition
7pm
8pm
9pm
8 — 9.30pm
Hot Brown
Honey
7.30 — 8.30pm
Vequia21
8.30 — 10.30pm
Venus Flytrap
7.20 — 8.10pm
Ghosts of a
Goddess
10pm
11pm

SATURDAY
7 APRIL
9 — 10.30am
WOW Views on
the News
10 — 11.15am
Refusing to be
Silenced
10 — 11am
WOW Bites
Turbine Studio
11am — 12.15pm
Who Cares?
Powerhouse Theatre
11am — 12.15pm
Commonwealth Now
Visy Theatre
11am — 12pm
Speaking Truth
to Power
Powerhouse Theatre
This ‘week in review’ session led
by WOW founder Jude Kelly is
a WOW tradition: a lively panel
discussion of international and
local speakers on what the
media (on-line and on-paper)
found worth reporting this week,
and the implications for women
and girls, and for gender equality.
Guests will include the Premier
of Queensland Annastacia
Palaszczuk leading human
rights campaigner Zainah Anwar
(Malaysia) and Indian author and
journalist Annie Zaidie.
Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk mp
Premier of Queensland
8 — 9am
Laugh Out Loud
Funky Yoga
Performance Lawn/
Rooftop Terrace
Women take an active part
in conflict everywhere — in
combat roles, providing
medical support, reporting
on conflict as journalists and
photographers, as negotiators
and peacekeepers — and in
a thousand other ways. This
session introduces some
women who are in the thick
of it globally, including the
founder of the platform RAW
— Reach All women in War
Mariana Katzarova, one of the
winners of this year’s Anna
Politskovskaya award, activist
Gulalai Ismail from Pakistan,
Mary Kini co-founder of Kup
Women for Peace in PNG
and leading Fijian activist
Sharon Bhagwan Rolls from
femLINKpacific. The session
will be facilitated by ABC Radio
Brisbane presenter Emma
Griffiths.
Want to see what's possible?
Get your inspiration for changemaking
here!
Alanna Bastin-Byrne, Jade
Collins, Brooke McGregor, Chris
Figg and Daniela Hernandez
celebrate the diversity of the
Femeconomy community with
2-minute tales about their
different paths to leadership.
Anisa Nandaula, award-winning
Brisbane slam poet on the
importance of Standing Up and
the power of the spoken word.
Women from the very remote
Aboriginal Community of Lockhart
River share their stories.
Jade Collins, Alanna Bastin-Byrne
10am — 12pm
Show Us Your Balls
& Hoops
Overwhelmingly it is women
who care for the young, the
sick, and the elderly, and
often for communities and
country too. Being a carer
brings personal rewards, and
potentially health, economic
and social costs. Across the
cultures and traditions are there
better ways to support carers,
and to share responsibility
for these roles? Facilitated
by Belinda Drew CEO of the
Community Services Industry
Alliance (CSIA) and including
Madeline Buchner founder of
Little Dreamers (Australia) the
CEO of Queensland Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
Child Protection Peak Natalie
Lewis, Head of Product at Q
Super Kim Hughes and from
South Africa, film of the work
of Mothers2Mothers dedicated
to preventing mother-to-child
transmission of HIV.
Outstanding writers from around
the Commonwealth will be featured
in a special edition of Australia’s
leading literary journal Griffith
Review published to coincide with
the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Join some of the women contributors
from across the globe, who will
reflect on their work and on the
future of the Commonwealth and
its enduring legacy. What might the
Commonwealth of Nations become
in a post- Brexit world? And what
voice could this global association
of 52 Nations have in the future?
Join Griffith Review Editor Julianne
Schultz and contributors including
Melissa Lucashenko (Australia)
Margaret Busby (UK) Urvashi Butalia
(India) Annie Zaidie (India) and
Jude Kelly (UK).
The British Council has
supported Margaret Busby’s
participation in WOW
Graffiti Room
You may be interested
in advocacy but do not
have the information
and skills to plan and
implement an effective
campaign. This
workshop will address
this problem directly,
and build people’s
knowledge, motivation
and confidence. It
is designed to help
attendees develop
advocacy skills that
they can implement
straight away, at an
individual and group
level. Presented
by Soroptomists
International South
East Queensland.
Healing Space
Powerhouse Theatre
See Friday for details
See Friday for details
30
31
Mary Kini
Gulalai Ismail
Madeline Buchner
Annie Zaidie

SATURDAY
7 APRIL
1 — 2.15pm
Changing the Story — Ending Male
Violence against Women and Girls
Powerhouse Theatre
What is the true picture of gender based violence
across the Commonwealth? Where can we gain the most
momentum for change and where are the legal and cultural
solutions to the issue of gender based violence. Natasha
Stott Despoja founding chair of Our Watch Australia,
former politician and former Australian UN Ambassador
for women and girls will lead this conversation around
government and community led approaches to changing
the story for our daughters and sons.
Participants will include from Sri Lanka activist Jayanthi
Kuru-Utumpala, from Queensland community activist and
campaigner Yasmin Khan and from Guyana/UK author and
activist Luke Daniels whose new book Defeating Domestic
Violence in the Americas — Men’s Work challenges men to
take more responsibility for ending the violence.
Facilitated by Leigh Tabrett Company Director including
DV Connect
Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala is participating in WOW through
support from the British Council.
1 — 2.15pm
Strategies for Survival
— Travelling across
the Binary and Beyond
Visy Theatre
A panel of transgender and
gender diverse people share their
strategies for surviving the legal,
medical and societal systems that
confront them to lead healthy
and fulfilling lives. Hear the
wisdom and experiences of those
who have gone before and learn
some strategies for the future.
Facilitated by President of the
Queensland LGBTQI legal service
Matilda Alexander the panel will
include advocate and activist
Starlady; trans, skateboarder,
film maker and activist Evie Ryder
and Taz Clay.
1 — 2pm
WOW Bites
Rooftop Terrace
Short talks, big challenges,
great learning and
solutions with:
Nicole Gibson, who, at 21, was
listed as one of Australia’s top
100 most influential women
will be Loving OUT LOUD and
looking at the process of
transmuting fear into love.
Kym Clark, innovator and
producer of our first industrial
maternity workwear talks about
how life can be raw for all of
us once you remove the filter.
Winnifred Selby, (Ghana)
on leading by girls, for girls
to girls.
Cheryl Leavy and Amara Peate,
mother and daughter from
the Kooma Nation, with their
1 — 2.15pm
Passion + Profit =
Purpose
Turbine Studio
Is the spark of inspiration in
your heart a business, a hobby
or something else? Explore
the things you love, the things
you are good at, and the skills
you have picked up from being
a human in everyday life.
Discover whether they are for
passion, profit or purpose.
Presented by Asja Svilans
of Global Sisters, this session
is perfect to connect back
in with who you are, and
what you love, and explore
all the possibilities.
1 — 2.15pm
Under 10’s Feminist
Corner (Boys Only)
Graffiti Room
Do you think that girls should
have the same opportunities
in life as boys? If so we’ve got
the perfect session for you.
In an interactive workshop with
other boys you can explore
feminism, what it means to be
a girl and what boys can do to
help gender equality. This is a
session for boys aged 6 – 10
years and for the young people
only. This is a free event but
limited places must be booked
through admin@wowaustralia.
com.au. Led by Brisbane
Creative Producer Katrina
Torenbeek and guest.
Kooma guide on how to cross
Boundary Street.
32
Natasha Stott Despoja
Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
Starlady
Photography 360 degrees productions
Winnifred Selby
33

SATURDAY
7 APRIL
1 – 2.15pm
Confidence
with Tools
Stores Studio
In our fast paced world, why
not stop and smell the timber.
Learn basic tool skills in
traditional woodworking to
build your own timber project
using recycled materials.
Saw, chisel and hammer to
your hearts content. It’s like
meditation, with tools.
2.45 — 4.pm
Times Up — Beyond
the #
Powerhouse Theatre
Until a few years ago most people
probably didn’t know where the
# was on their keyboard — let
alone why they would use it! And
in 2018, after #destroythejoint
#countingdeadwomen
#bringbackourgirls #womensmarch
and of course #metoo — it has
technically and symbolically united
women and men across the globe in
calls for action. So we’ve galvanized
attention to the treatment of
women: now who is creating the
solutions? In this session facilitated
by the Director of the 50/50 by 2030
Foundation Virginia Haussegger am
women and men in leadership roles
talk about the practical and effective
changes they are making. Speakers
will include Chair of Partners
McCullough Robertson Lawyers
Dominic McGann and Principal of
2.45 — 4pm
Not So Grand
Designs
Visy Theatre
What’s your design challenge
— contraception that doesn’t
mess with your mood? Car
keys you can’t lose? Affordable
housing for your community?
Hear about some of the
real design solutions being
created by women and girls
across the Commonwealth.
Facilitated by Brisbane-based
architect Suzanne Bosanquet
including Graphic Designer
Millicent Barty (Solomon
Islands), textile technologist
and designer of sustainable
supply chains Merial
Chamberlin and architect and
academic Dr Naomi Stead,
and challenge our designsavvy
panel to find a solution
to your design challenge.
2.45 — 3.45pm
WOW Bites
Turbine Studio
More amazing sound bites: surviving,
finding your voice, and sharing ancient
ways of learning.
Maria Tinschert 85 years young, whose
personal story of survival is an unforgettable
Australian true crime story, talks on being a
Survivor.
Leah Denbok and her mother Sarah (Canada)
on their response to homelessness, Nowhere
to Call Home.
Annie Peterson, on Finding our Voice: the
story of Women in Voice, Brisbane’s iconic
cabaret institution which celebrated
25 years in 2017.
Lisa Mumbin Chair of the Jawoyn Association
Aboriginal Corporation in Katherine on
building strength through WOW.
2.45 — 3.45pm
Speed Mentoring
Rooftop Terrace
See Friday for details
2.45 — 3.45pm
An Introduction to
Intersectionality
Graffiti Room
As the movement towards gender equality
progresses, the inclusivity and diversity of this
movement is something to be prioritised. Come
along to this interactive workshop, hosted by
the One Woman Project, to find out what the
term ‘Intersectionality’ means, how intersecting
identities leads to different lived experiences,
what intersectional feminism is and how we can
ensure the movement for gender equality is a
movement encompassing everyone.
Nudgee College Peter Fullagar.
34
35
Virginia Haussegger am
Dominic McGann
Design by Millicent Barty
Annie Peterson

SATURDAY
7 APRIL
4.15 — 5.30pm
Big Data, Blockchain
and Bots
Visy Theatre
It’s called the fourth industrial
revolution, and it is upon us.
Disruptive technologies including
artificial intelligence, machine
learning, IoT (Internet of Things),
blockchain and big data are creating
transformational changes. So what
exactly are we getting ready for, and
where could it take us? Panelists
include Brisbane business woman Dr
Jane Thomason, commentator and
blogger on blockchain technology
and social impact, leading Australian
entrepreneur and founder of Everledger
Leanne Kemp building a global
verification system for high-value
assets (such as diamonds) to mitigate
risk and fraud in global marketplaces
and TechCrunch Startup winner,
founder and CEO at HealthMatch
Manuri Gunawardena
This conversation will be facilitated by
ABC presenter of ‘Big Ideas’ Cathy Van
Extel and recorded for later broadcast.
4.15 — 5.30pm
Let’s Talk about Sex
Powerhouse Theatre
Sex may be the most fun you
can have without laughing, but
talking about it is taboo in many
societies. Now its 2018 and we
have a sex positive movement,
ethical feminist pornography
and intersectional feminism.
So, have things really changed?
What are the current issues?
What is still missing from the
conversation? Join psychosexual
and relationship therapist Jocelyn
Klug, clinical sexologist Naomi
Hutchings who delivers training
and workshops on all aspects
of human sexuality, Dr Natasha
Alexander who works with people
with intellectual disabilities
in the area of sexuality and
relationships, who together with
Canadian author Kateri Akiwenzie
Damm will provide a stimulating
conversation and the opportunity
to get answers to questions you’ve
always wanted to ask!
4.15 — 5.15pm
Examining
the Gender in
Parenting —
Home, School
and Play
Turbine Studio
In this workshop,
local parent and
artist Lenine Bourke
will share some
ideas on a growing
approach to parenting
without reinforcing
gender stereotypes.
Join an interactive
environment for those
with children, those
who care for children
and those who work
with children to share
experiences, ideas,
tips and pitfalls
for creating gender
non-confirming
environments.
4.15 — 5.15pm
WOW Bites
Graffiti Room
Short talks packed with really big ideas.
Edda Hamar on the importance of sustainable
fashion and how you can be part of the solution
Jasvinder Sanghera (UK) founder of Karmina
Nirvana presents an Honourlogue
Anoushka Dowling sharing the lessons she has
learnt trying to fit in when you stand out
Mary Elizabeth Ramosaea and Zillah Douglas —
(Solomon Islands) on creating real change
for women through changing views on
menstrual health.
5.30 — 7.30pm
Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s
Voices) Securing our Rights,
Securing our Future
Rooftop Terrace
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social
Justice Commissioner, June Oscar ao, warmly
invites Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
women and girls to take part in a national
conversation as part of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani
(Women’s Voices) project.
Commissioner Oscar and her team are travelling
around the country to hear directly from
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
(18+) and girls (aged 12 – 17) about their needs,
aspirations and ideas for change. You can find
out more information at wiyiyaniuthangani.
humanrights.gov.au.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
and girls are encouraged to join in on this
important conversation. Please note you do not
need a ticket to WOW to participate, however
numbers are limited so please register at
wiyiyaniuthangani@humanrights.gov.au.
36
Leanne Kemp
Dr Natasha Alexander
37

SATURDAY
Ticketed WOW Pass Free
7 APRIL
Powerhouse
Theatre
Visy
Theatre
Rooftop
Terrace
Turbine
Studio
Graffiti
Room
Turbine
Platform
Riverbend
Terrace
Stores
Studio
River
Studio
The
Wall
Labrynth
Powerhouse
Plaza
Performance
Lawn
QPAC
8am
9am
10am
11am
12pm
9 — 10.30am
Views on
the News!
11am — 12.15pm
Who Cares
11am — 12.15pm
Commonwealth
Now
10 — 11.15am
Refusing to
be Silenced
10 — 11am
WOW Bites
11am — 12pm
Speaking Truth
to Power
9 — 10.30am
Views on
the News!
11.30am — 1pm
Yuki Taniguchi/
Songbirds/
Sudha Manian
10am — 12pm
Show Us Your
Balls & Hoops
8am — 5pm
WOW
Marketplace
presented by
ACSL
8 — 9am
Laugh out Loud
Funky Yoga
10am — 5pm
Healing Space
(Scheduled
Sessions)
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm
6pm
7pm
8pm
9pm
1 — 2.15pm
Changing
the Story
2.45 — 4pm
Times Up —
Beyond the #
4.15 — 5.30pm
Let’s Talk
About Sex
8 — 9.30pm
Hot Brown
Honey
1 — 2.15pm
Strategies
for Survival
2.45 — 4pm
Not So Grand
Designs
4.15 — 5.30pm
Big Data,
Blockchains
and Bots
7.45 — 8.15pm
Be Careful
1 — 2pm
WOW Bites
2.45 — 3.45pm
Speed
Mentoring
5.30 — 8pm
Wiyi Yani U
Thangani
(Women’s
Voices)
Securing Our
Rights, Securing
Our Future
1 — 2.15pm
Passion + Profit
= Purpose
2.45 – 3.45pm
WOW Bites
4.15 — 5.15pm
Examining
the Gender
in Parenting
1 — 2pm
Under 10’s Feminist
Corner (Boys only)
2.45 — 3.45pm
An Introduction to
Intersectionality
4.15 — 5.15pm
WOW Bites
5.15 — 6pm
Fangirls
6 — 7pm
Ruckus Slam
8.30 — 10.30pm
Femioke
2.45 — 3.45pm
Learning Circle
1 — 2pm
Confidence
with Tools
7 — 7.30pm
Ghosts of a Godess
2 — 8pm
WOW
Marketplace
presented by
ACSL
7
2.45
— 7.30pm
— 3.45pm
Ghost
The Beautiful
of a
Goddess
Game
10pm
11pm

SUNDAY
8 APRIL
9.30 — 10.45am
Women and Children First
— Why Climate Change is a
Feminist Issue
Powerhouse Theatre
9.30 — 10.45am
For God’s Sake
Visy Theatre
They say love is blind, so is faith blind? Women
of all faith traditions say their faith inspires,
9.30 — 10.45am
The Regional Voice
Turbine Studio
Women in five regional and
remote communities in
9.30 — 10.30am
WOW Bites
Rooftop Terrace
Four women speak about
transcending their different
9.30 — 11am
Show us your Balls
and Hoops
Stores Studio
See Friday for details
Wherever you live in the Commonwealth — sub-
Saharan Africa, the delta in Bangladesh, the coral
atolls of the Pacific or regional Australia — climate
change is making itself felt in communities, and
especially in the lives of women and children.
But women are also at the forefront of responses
around the world. These amazing women will bring
a gender lens to climate change and its impacts,
to suggest how this can be changed. Speakers will
include from Fiji Sharon Bhagwan Rolls founder of
femLINKpacific, Mayor Vonda Malone of the Torres
Shire Council and from Griffith University Research
Scientist Esther Onyango. Facilitated by former
Australia Greens Deputy Leader and Queensland
Senator Larissa Waters.
supports and gives them courage. They also
acknowledge that religious institutions can be
challenging and sometimes sexist, but they
continue to be among the faithful. That faith
then impacts their relationships — friends and
families — and the communities in which they
live and work. Are the benefits greater than the
challenges or is faith simply blind?
Zainah Anwar the founder of Musawah (Equality)
in conversation with Scott Stephens Editor
of the ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, and
specialist commentator on religion and ethics
for ABC radio and television delve into Islamic
tradition to unpack the challenges that women
as followers face, and why they do, indeed,
remain faithful.
Queensland and the Northern
Territory (the Torres Strait
Islands, Channel Country,
Lockhart River, Bundaberg
and Katherine) have been
working with the WOW team
in the lead up to the Festival,
to help shape the Festival,
and to bring something of
the Festival to their own
communities. Join WOW
Executive Producer Cathy
Hunt to hear about their work,
and the challenges for women
and girls in these unique, and
vastly different communities.
personal challenges.
Delvene Cockatoo-Collins,
a First Nation artist from
Quandamooka country
sharing her story behind
designing the Gold Coast 2018
Commonwealth Games Medals.
Donna Thistlethwaite on the
perfect storm that took her
to the brink of death and
her strategies to move from
surviving to thriving.
Mikhara Ramsing, answers
the question ‘Can I be Indian
and gay?’, shares her personal
story and what drove her to set
up Ethnic LGBT+.
9.30 — 10.30am
Stretch!
A Mindmap for Good
Decision Making
Graffiti Room
Every day we make major
decisions which impact our
emotional, physical and
financial well-being. Who is
in charge of making major
decisions for you? Many
women tend to delegate
decision-making to other
important people in their
lives — decisions which
satisfy or place other people’s
Madeleine Buchner —
on turning big dreams into
reality — a better world for
young carers.
needs above their own. In this
workshop Balveen Ajimal will
help place you at the heart of
the decision.
40
Photographer
Jordin Steele
Vonda Malone Zainah Anwar Scott Stephens Channel Country ladies day Mikhara Ramsing Balveen Ajimal
41

SUNDAY
8 APRIL
11.15am — 12.30pm
The Rules of the Game
Powerhouse Theatre
11.15am — 12.30pm
Word Mothers — Women
in Publishing
11.15am — 12.15pm
WOW Bites
Rooftop Terrace
11.15am — 1.15pm
Skateboarding
with Evie
11.15am — 12.15pm
Henna Hands
Graffiti Room
It’s a long time since Billy Jean King beat Bobby
Turbine Studio
More outstanding short
Powerhouse Plaza
See Friday for details.
Riggs, and proved that a woman could beat a man
at tennis. This is the first Commonwealth Games
in which the same number of gold medals are up
for grabs for women and men. New professional
women’s competitions in Rugby Union Sevens,
Australian Rules Football, Twenty-Twenty Cricket
and more have been established and are thriving.
So what’s next on the sports agenda for women?
Join Dr Louise Martin cbe President of the
Commonwealth Games Federation and leading
sports women including from the Queensland
Firebirds Caitlyn Nevins, Australian and Brisbane
Heat and Queensland Fast Bowler Holly Ferling,
Brisbane Lions player Sabrina Frederick-Traub
and facilitated by Deputy Chair of the Brisbane
Lions Sarah Kelly to discuss.
Getting women’s stories — and culturally
diverse ones — onto the page has always been
a challenge — think of the women writers who
hid their identity behind male pseudonyms!
In this session we meet some enterprising
women publishers who have been leaders
in this field; Margaret Busby (UK) pioneered
publishing African stories and ensuring they
reached a global audience; Kateri Akiwenzie
Damm (Canada) has led the way in publishing
the stories of First Nation people from many
different parts of the world; and India’s leading
feminist and publisher Urvashi Butalia. What
led them to publishing, and how can we ensure
that more women and girls get the opportunity to
tell their stories? This session will be facilitated
by Jane Camens, founder of Asia Pacific Writing
Partnership which seeks to build networks of
publishers, academics and writers in this region.
stories from women across the
Commonwealth leading change
in their communities.
Ashleigh Smith, (New Zealand)
— Why young people are the
experts on providing solutions
for young people.
Gulalai Ismail, (Pakistan) —
on Aware Girls, working for
the empowerment of young
women in Pakistan.
Sam Morris, ‘If you can’t
beat the media, be the
media’ and the launch of
Blank GC magazine.
The women of Murakosker
helping women and families
across the Torres Strait.
Skateboarding is about fun,
enjoying yourself and progressing
at your own pace, and with
positive encouragement. Part
of Evie’s personal philosophy
and interests are in encouraging
people who may not think they
fit the profile of ‘typical’ skaters.
From teaching a broad range of
people, Evie knows with the right
encouragement that anyone can
start skateboarding today.
Her students include female
skaters, queer people and people
who identify as transgender,
mature age skaters, skaters
of all backgrounds and body
types, and youth from a range of
backgrounds. Most importantly,
it is a priority to Evie that all
students feel supported and
encouraged to have fun and
to just be themselves.
42
Caitlyn Nevins Kateri Akiwenzie Damm Margaret Busby Ashleigh Smith
43

SUNDAY
8 APRIL
1.15 — 2.30pm
Grandmothers
Know Best — Celebrating the
Wisdom of our Elders
Powerhouse Theatre
Wise-women and matriarchs, or witches, hags
and crones? The position of older women,
and how they are treated in the family and
community varies across cultures. But whether
they have lived their lives on the global stage,
or tended their families on a farm or in a
village, they have worked for better lives for
their daughters and grand-daughters, and have
amassed a life-time of insights in the process.
In this session, former Governor General of
Australia and WOW Australia Patron Quentin
Bryce speaks with some remarkable elders and
grandmothers about the place of older women
in their communities — and why it is that
grandmothers really do know best. Facilitated
1.15 – 2.15pm
Speed Mentoring
Roof Top Terrace
See Friday for details
1.15 — 2.15pm
African Dance
Stores Studio
A vibrant, fun and highly energetic African
dance workshop suited for all levels. This is an
opportunity for people to experience a little
taste of African culture. Led by a passionate
exponent of dance — not just African styles, but
also Latin, hip hop, and contemporary genres,
Yenenesh Nigusse will share some Ghanaian &
Guinean dance from West Africa and a taste of
South African gumboot dancing. The dancing will
be accompanied by live drumming with a djembe
and doun doun drums.
1.15 — 2.30pm
No More Prisons
Visy Theatre
The numbers of women criminalised and
incarcerated in the world’s prisons continues to
rise at a time when male rates of imprisonment
are relatively stable. Why is this happening? What
does the community gain by locking women up?
And what would the consequences of abolishing
prison for women be? Will we allow ourselves
to imagine a world without prisons? The leading
women campaigners from Canada Senator Kim
Pate, New Zealand, Professor Tracey McIntosh,
and Australia lawyer and founder of Sisters
Inside Deb Kilroy will discuss.
2.45 — 3.45pm
WOW Bites
Rooftop Terrace
Big gender issues, new thinking:
Anne Goslett on SHIFTing perspective of and
for women at risk of homelessness through the
creation of a sense of belonging; a wellbeing
approach to homelessness.
Eriko Fufurefa and Umba Peter from Kafe
Women’s Association in Goroka, Papua New
Guinea will share insights into “Yumi Sanap
Strong — Lets stand strong together: Human
Rights Defenders addressing violence related
to sorcery accusations in Papua New Guinea”
Domino Pateman, (UK) Head of
Programmes for WOW, on why toilets are
no joke for women and what can toilets
can tell us about gender equality.
by the Director of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation
Virginia Haussegger am and including from
Bougainville leading human rights advocate
Agnes Titus and Jawoyn leader and traditional
owner from Katherine in the Northern Territory
Lisa Mumbin.
Senator Kim Pate
44
45
Quentin Bryce
Agnes Titus
Professor Tracey McIntosh Deb Kilroy Yumi Sanap Strong

SUNDAY
8 APRIL
2.45 — 3.45pm
Accidental Activists
Visy Theatre
2.45 — 3.45pm
Leading for Change — What do Great
Women Leaders do?
2.45 — 3.45pm
Learning Circle
Riverbend Terrace
4 — 5.30pm
The Future is Female
Powerhouse Theatre
Some of our most
Powerhouse Theatre
An interactive participatory
Young people (29 years or younger) make up sixty percent of the
extraordinary and influential
activists are people who did
not set out to gain the public
eye, but who were driven
by a personal encounter or
experience, an injustice, or the
plight of a loved one, to speak
out and build a campaign to
change things. Meet some
of the Commonwealth’s
surprising ‘accidental activists’
including creator of the One
Million Stars to End Violence
project MaryAnn Talia Pau
(Samoa/Australia) advocate
There are women who hold and exercise power in pretty much
every field — in science, sports, arts, politics, business, the
community. Some — but not all of them — also seek to use
their power and influence to make change on behalf of women
and girls. In this session, outstanding women leaders talk
about their work and consider some of the conversations that
have taken place over the WOW weekend to help us work out
what we need from our women leaders today.
Participants will include Natasha Stott Despoja founding chair
of Our Watch Australia, former politician and former Australian
UN Ambassador, Dr Sandra Phillips Associate Professor, at
Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research,
UTS, Jasvinder Sanghera founder of UK charity Karma Nirvana,
Sri Lankan Gender Equality specialist Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala.
process for people to
express their learnings
from WOW through dialogue
and reflection, creating a
foundation for action. Led by
Denise Hagan CEO & Founder,
Puuya Foundation and
Bernadette Rutyna,
Director Human Ingredient.
population in Commonwealth member countries. In one of the final
sessions of WOW at Festival 2018, young women from Australia
and around the Commonwealth have a chance to shape the agenda
for the future. In a conversation with the Founder of WOW Jude
Kelly and The Secretary-General Commonwealth, The Rt Hon
Patricia Scotland qc, they will present many of the ideas that have
emerged from consultations and the WOW weekend on what has to
happen for all our futures to build a world in which gender equality
is truly recognised as a basic human right, in the home, in the
community and in society as a whole.
and activist Starlady and
Mariana Katsova founder of
RAW in WAR (Bulgaria/UK).
Jude Kelly
46
47
MaryAnn Talia Pau
Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
Dr Sandra Phillips
Patricia Scotland qc

SUNDAY
Ticketed WOW Pass Free
8 APRIL
Powerhouse
Theatre
Visy
Theatre
Rooftop
Terrace
Turbine
Studio
Graffiti
Room
Turbine
Platform
Riverbend
Terrace
Stores
Studio
River
Studio
The
Wall
Labrynth
Powerhouse
Plaza
Performance
Lawn
QPAC
8am
9am
10am
9.30 — 10.45am
Women &
Children First
9.30 — 10.45am
For Gods Sake
9.30 — 10.30am
WOW Bites
9.30 — 10.45am
Regional
Voices
9.30 — 10.30am
Stretch
9.30 — 11am
Show Us Your
Balls
8am — 4pm
WOW
Marketplace
presented by
ACSL
8am — 4pm
WOW
Marketplace
presented by
ACSL
8 — 9am
Laugh Out Loud
Funky Yoga
9am — 3pm
Healing Space
(Scheduled
Sessions)
11am
12pm
1pm
11.15am —
12.30pm
Rules of the
Game
11.30am —
12.10pm
Be Careful
11.15am —
12.15pm
WOW Bites
11.15am —
12.30pm
Word Mothers
11.15am —
12.15pm
Henna Hands
12.20 — 1.10pm
Kardajala
Kirridarra
11am — 1pm
Skateboarding
edge of New
Farm Pk
2pm
3pm
1.15 — 2.30pm
Grandmothers
Know Best
2.45 — 3.45pm
Leading for
Change
1.15 — 2.30pm
No More
Prisons
2.45 — 3.45pm
Accidental
Activists
1.15 — 2.15pm
Speed
Mentoring
2.45 — 3.45pm
WOW Bites
2 — 4pm
Doing
Dancing
2.45 — 3.45pm
Learning Circle
1.15 — 2.15pm
African Dance
4pm
5pm
4 — 5.30pm
The Future Is
Female
Closing Address
6pm
7pm
8pm
7 — 8.30pm
Songs That
Made Me
9pm
10pm
11pm

ASSOCIATE EVENTS
Sunday 8 April, 10am
Dune Cafe, Palm Beach Parklands,
Palm Beach
WOW at Bleach*
A Conversation with VOU
and First Nation Elders
A morning tea with members of the Fijian Dance
Company VOU and local First Nation Elders.
This intimate event is an opportunity to explore
the lost art of female tattooing and the artistic
reclaiming of traditional practices and cultural
mark making in Fiji, the Pacific and within local
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The session will be facilitated by Bleach*
Festival Artistic Director, Louise Bezzina.
Symposium 9 and 10 April 2018
QUT Kelvin Grove Campus
Creative research and
development in the Asia-
Pacific: Reflections on gender
inequalities and human rights
This symposium brings together researchers,
human rights advocates, development and
creative practitioners, to discuss the way in
which creative processes can be explored
and integrated into research, advocacy and
monitoring and evaluation in the Asia-Pacific
region. Following on from WOW the symposium
will include presentations and creative
workshops providing a space for people with
different backgrounds to share their experiences
with speakers to include human rights defenders
from Papua New Guinea. Further details
https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab
YWCA Trailblazer Awards
YWCA Queensland is a vibrant, progressive women’s
organisation with a mission to empower women
and girls to 'find their possible'. To coincide with
WOW they are launching the YWCA Trailblazer
Awards to recognise those women who make
a difference to the lives of others and their
communities, who see something that needs
to be done to make positive change happen.
Nominations for the Trailblazer awards will
open 3rd March 2018 and they will be presented
at 5:30pm on 4th April at the Rooftop Terrace at
Brisbane Powerhouse. Visit the YWCA website for
more information www.yq.org.au/trailblazers
10am — 5pm, daily;
10am — 7pm, Fridays
East Gallery, Museum of Brisbane
Every Day I Wait —
Anne Scott Wilson
Multidisciplinary artist Anne Scott Wilson draws
on her past as a professional ballet dancer, to
explore the mental and physical dedication of
dancers, their agony, and endurance relative to
the fleeting moments of glory as a performer. Her
works integrate video, photography, performance,
sound, and installation to immerse the viewer
in an almost physical experience that elicits a
sense of what it is to move like a ballet dancer
— weightless motion camouflaging the often
painful and arduous practice of ballet technique.
IDEAS &
INSPIRATIONS
50
Every Day I Wait, Anne Scott Wilson
51

THANK YOU
PARTNERS
Of One Mind and the Southbank Centre London would like
to express sincere thanks to the many special people who
helped to make this WOW happen:
Patron of WOW in Australia, Quentin Bryce for her continued wisdom and support
Our speakers and artists for generously sharing their work, insights and inspiration
Our thinkers All the people of all genders and ages who helped build this year’s
Festival through the WOW Thinkins here and overseas and continued to advise
on program development including Alanna Bastin Byrne, Lenine Bourke, Suzanne
Bosanquet, Jade Collins, Belinda Drew, Evie Ryder, Jodie Siganto
Our donors the numerous individuals, groups and organisations who have given
time, ideas, cash and inkind support, and especially the WOW Changemakers:
Balveen Ajimal, Julie Baikie, Gabrielle Chisholm, Meta Goodman, Cathy Hunt,
Rose Neal, Kate Paynter, Pauline Peel, Jo Pratt, Riverbend Books, Jenny and
Rob Siganto, Lisa Siganto and Greg Coglan, Jordin Steele and Leigh Tabrett
Our regional partners who connected us to women across tens of thousands of
kilometres, Godinymayin Ijard Rivers Art and Culture Centre, Katherine, Mura Kosker
Sorority, Thursday Island, Puuya Foundation, Lockhart River, Creative Regions,
Bundaberg, Red Ridge and the Channel Country Ladies Day Organising Committee
WOW at Festival 2018 would not have been possible without the
generous support from the following agencies and organisations.
Principal Partner
Major Partners
Department of Communications and the Arts
The Queensland Government is proud to support WOW at Festival 2018 as part of the Gold Coast 2018
Commonwealth Games arts and cultural program. The Queensland Women’s Strategy is dedicated to removing
barriers preventing women and girls achieving their goals either at work or in the community. Departments
supporting the event include:
• Office of the Commonwealth Games within the Department of Innovation and Tourism Industry Development
• Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs
• Arts Queensland within the Department of Environment and Science
• Office for Women within the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women
• Queensland Health
Our many partners for funding, input, and presenting support acknowledged
on the next page
WOW at Festival 2018 has been organised in Brisbane by
Cathy Hunt, Leigh Tabrett, Jo Pratt, Julie Baikie, Kareen Ghee, Tanya Green,
Jody Haines, Anna Jones, Kylie Mitchell, Lyn Smith, Dr Sandra Phillips,
Faiza El Higzi, Brigid Prain, Kelly Tomlin, Niki Michail, Noelani Osueke,
Kylie Miles, Zillah Douglas, Michelle Eskola
Event Partners
With the support of
Jude Kelly, Domino Pateman and Nanda Poleon Southbank London
All staff at the Brisbane Powerhouse especially Emma Millers and Naomi Gordon
Gillian Gardiner and her team in the Queensland Government Office of the
Commonwealth Games
Agency North for PR and Designfront for design
WOW at Festival 2018 will be recorded by the Artsfront team an initiative of Feral Arts
Our warmest thanks to you all!
Producing Partners
James St re et
PART OF THE ACCESS GROUP
52
All information provided in this Program is correct at the time of
publication — check website for any updates www.wowaustralia.com.au
53

IN
your country
women and men
will have gender equality
when…
A big thank
you to all the
contributors!
Celebrating the Women of the Commonwealth

199
JAMES ST
199
MERTHRY RD
New Farm
Dog Park
LAMINGTON ST
Merthry
Village
WELSBY ST
SYDNEY ST
P
P
Performance
Lawn
New Farm Park
Brisbane
Powerhouse
New Farm
Bowls Club
BRUNSWICK ST
< FORTITUDE VALLEY
inc. train station
ELYSTAN RD
196
Brisbane
River
Contact
119 Lamington Street,
New Farm Qld 4005
PO Box 364, New Farm Qld 4005
Brisbanepowerhouse.org
T +61 7 3358 8622
F +61 7 3358 8611
Box office +61 7 3358 8600
Email info@brisbanepowerhouse.org
Opening hours mon 9am–5pm,
tue–sun 9am–9pm
How to get there
CITYCAT After a lazy jaunt down
the river you’ll have a well-lit 200
metre riverside walk from the New
Farm Park CityCat Jetty.
BUS The 195 and 196 stop at New
Farm Park. Take a short, enjoyable
stroll along the riverside path
from the CityCat jetty. If you
want to give your legs a bit more
of a workout you can catch the
199 bus, which stops on
Merthyr Road within walking
distance via Lamington Street.
BICYCLES It’s cool to be green!
Bike racks are located outside the
Stores Building (beside the car
park) and Brisbane Powerhouse.
A CityCycle station is also located
at the entrance to the car park on
Lamington Street.
TAXI If you need a taxi it’s as easy
as using the free taxi phones
located in the foyer opposite the
box office. Our collect and drop
off area is in the car park beside
the Stores Building.
CAR We have 140 free car parks
on site via Lamington Street.
After 4pm a link road opens to
New Farm Park where there are
more parking spots available.
Additional parking is available
in New Farm Park.
WHEELCHAIR Wheelchair
parking is available on-site via
Lamington Street with lift access
from the car park level beside
the Stores Building. Please
notify the box office of any
special needs when booking.