This year, Weiwuying is hosting Taiwan’s first WOW - Women of the World Festival (WOW) around the core ideas of #ConnectedDialogue, #EmpathyThroughTransposition, and #CelebratoryCocreation from November 5 (Fri.) to 14 (Sun.). The event, entitled WOW Kaohsiung 2021, will include 32 superb activities and programs, such as lectures, participatory performances, and body and movement workshops, in an effort to break the shackles of convention, tear off gender labels, and allow the public to explore how to truly make gender equality a reality.
Weiwuying is a place that seeks to make the arts accessible to all. General and artistic director CHIEN Wen-pin said, “Having been held for ten years in over 30 cities on six continents, the WOW Festival is an event that influences gender issues around the globe. This year, Weiwuying has brought the festival to Taiwan. Through art and a variety of programs, attendees will be able to embrace and gain a better understanding of each other. May all of the women and girls who attend the event leave with a full sense of self-confidence and empowerment and in turn use it to influence more people and create a gender-friendly world.”
The festival celebrates women’s achievements and provides a voice to women in all kinds of circumstances around the world. Event founder Jude KELLY first held the festival in 2010 at the Southbank Centre in London to encourage women and boost their status in society. Since then, WOW has taken place in more than 30 locations around the world and has reached over three million people. To link the festival to the host city of Kaohsiung this year, beginning in March, Weiwuying held five WOW Think Ins, where people of different professions, levels of education, ages, and genders came together to brainstorm and speak freely about the current state of gender roles in society, which in turn was used in formulating programs for the event to make topics normally deemed too serious or private more approachable for the public.
There will be four major categories of programs: In Conversations, Workshops, Screenings, and the Academy for Creative Producers. For the Academy for Creative Producers, WOW Festival founder Jude KELLY, The WOW Foundation team from the UK, and WOW festival leaders from around the world will come together to offer two sessions full of interaction and an international perspective on November 5 (Fri.) and 14 (Sun.). Content includes leadership methods, art festival planning, cross-cultural collaboration, and the use of art in pushing social reform. WOW leaders from the UK, Australia, and the US will share their thoughts and experiences online, where attendees may ask questions, interact, and come up with new ideas.
In Conversations explores women’s rights and gender awareness in an in-depth dialogue format. There are 13 sessions in either on-site or online format. The five on November 13 (Sat.) and 14 (Sun.) are Digital Sexual Violence - No One's an Outsider (what digital sexual assault looks like and the state of Taiwan’s Internet policy), WOW That's Me on TV! - Narratives of Women in Pop Culture (a discussion of women’s issues within TV series plots), Saturday Night Unplugged feat. Panai KUSUI (who uses her unique, simple voice to sing about the power of tenderness), Women’s Voices: The Revolution of Everyday Life (in which the makers of Solo in My Room will discuss what has happened since it was performed and share the wisdom they have accumulated in their over 50 years of life), and Equality for All - You'll Never Walk Alone (during which Jude KELLY will talk about the path to gender equality).
In addition, there will be eight brilliant online dialogues. Woman Power During Pandemic is about the plights faced by people helped by charity organizations. For Female Artists Who Stand Their Ground, “Queen of Henan opera” WANG Hai-ling and two other well-known women in the art sector will share their experiences promoting gender equality through the power of art. Let Me Hear You Say WOW will allow attendees to create a song with Golden Indie Music Award-nominee Utjung TJAKIVALID. No Limits: Athletes Who Go Out of Bounds will share about how women professionals in the sports sector step past that invisible gender boundary. What Can Girls Do? Anything! will encourage women to break free from the shackles of social expectation and live out their lives as they wish. Screening of Out/Marriage and Follow-up Discussion will share the voices of female immigrants married to Taiwanese men. WOW Bites will help people break free from the traditional mindset with new viewpoints on women’s issues. Sexibility will challenge your concepts of sex.
Nine Workshops linked by the common thread of exploration will be held from November 6 (Sat.) to 13 (Sat.): Just Circle Paint What’s on Your Mind will provide a sense of inclusion through painting. My Body and Its Gender will guide parents and children in talking about gender. Women's Survival Handbook?! seeks to overturn and redefine commonly held concepts. Love Letter for Myself will guide you in spending time with and really listening to yourself. Massage for Soul and Body will teach participants how to care for themselves with natural essential oils. Magic Grandma in Playback Theater will invite elderly women to share their stories, after which performers will come up with improv performances based on what they heard. Through group sharing and painting, we will explore the body in A Date with My Vulva. By sharing life experiences and playing games during Under 10’s Feminist Corner, children under ten will learn about feminism. Guided by experts from various sectors, Roll Up! Circus Girls will lead attendees on a journey of self-exploration.
For the eight WOW Screenings, one film will be played each day from November 6 (Sat.) to 13 (Sat.). In An Art Festival for YOU!, Weiwuying general and artistic director CHIEN Wen-pin and the head of strategic marketing Cynthia CHIANG lead attendees in exploring the secrets of holding an art festival. Chosen for the festival by the Taiwan Women’s Film Association, the three short films Coda, Legit Moms, Illegitimate Kid, and What is a Woman? discuss different gender issues. Spice Girls - From Me to Us is not only about teaching you how to make Southeast Asian cuisine but about nostalgia for home. If you want to know how one of the first female puppeteers in Taiwan, CHIANG Szu-mei, overcame the traditional custom of women being prohibited from taking part in stage performances and has continued for decades in the profession, then you won’t want to miss CHIANG Szu-mei, First-ever Female Palmar Drama Puppet Master! Period-product brand KiraKira founder Vanessa shares her knowledge in Sanitary Products of Your Own Choice. In Cut Your Bangs with Confidence, hairstylists from Hair Café provide basic teaching on hair management and cutting. The films aim to show every girl and woman more about who they are inside and out.
Gender Chitchats, from November 1 (Mon.) to 5 (Fri.) will be coodinated with the help of UFO Radio and are to be moderated by the station’s Midnight Family and DJ Kuang Yu. Six celebrity guests from different sectors (actress WEN Chen-ling, YouTuber Nana, Diary of the Hostess founders Yong and Jun, writer and psychiatrist TENG Hui-wen, and general practitioner and gender equality advocate LEE Chia-yen) will openly share their life stories, experiences, and what they have learned.
You won’t want to miss this all-inclusive event on women’s issues! Get a great discount with our package ticket: For just NT$600, you can attend the five on-site In Conversations to be touched in person by what the speakers have to say. We also invite everyone to join much more of the event by going to the event’s English webpage (https://www.npac-weiwuying.org/feature/normal/60fe353dc924d7000723cf25?lang=en) and clicking on WOW PASS registration to immediately receive free admission (online) to all the In Conversations and WOW Screenings. For more information on content and registration, please visit Weiwuying’s website, e-mail our WOW Kaohsiung 2021 team at wowkaohsiung@npac-weiwuying.org, or call us at (07) 262-6666.