WOW London 2023
It is four years since I participated in a WOW Festival in London, missing out in 2019 due to an accident and then of course the last three years of COVID cancellations and travel restrictions. So it was extra special this year to be able to travel to the UK with WOW Australia Senior Producer Jo Pratt and in partnership with the WOW Foundation, to support the participation of our Co Patron Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO in this year’s WOW London at the Royal Festival Hall.
June Oscar was the fourth First Nation woman leader we as WOW Australia have supported to speak at the London event, the first being Jaowyn woman and one of the WOW Katherine organisers Lisa Mumbin in 2014. Then in 2019 in her role as Mayor of the Torres Shire Council Vonda Malone together with Queensland First Nation academic and author Dr Sandra Phillips.
June's participation was particularly timely due to her role as Commissioner in developing the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) report and recommendations which sets the framework for the policy and decision making for empowering First Nations women and girls in Australia, as well as a new direction for achieving gender equality in this nation. Furthermore, June remains a senior leader in her own Bununba Country in WA and had only just left her devastated flooded community of Fitzroy Crossing, to engage with conversations at the CSW conference in New York on international Women's Day before travelling on to WOW London.
Interviewed by legendary broadcasters Jane Garvey and Fi Glover for a live recording of a new podcast on the Friday night, June held an audience of 2000 in awe of her personal story of resilience and leadership. For the opening session on Saturday she joined broadcaster Sandi Toksvig and WOW founder Jude Kelly for a discussion on optimism and activism and the rewriting of ‘herstory’ with the truths that need to be told. Later that day, June joined World Elder and former President of the Republic of Ireland Mary Robinson, US media superstar and life long advocate for women Pat Mitchell and a panel of distinguished leaders from around the world in the launch of Project Dandelion a global women-led climate justice campaign.
Finally, June delivered an opening address to 19 producers of WOW festivals and events around the world on her engagement with WOW in Australia, the importance of our work and storytelling in all its forms to ensure no voices, but especially the voices of First Nation women and girls are left out of the conversation and solutions for gender injustice.
Other highlights of the weekend for me included; facilitating an amazing couple of panels, one of women with some very ‘Big Ideas’ including leading UK activist, broadcaster Shani Dhanda on her dream of an accessible future; leading a conversation with WOW producers from as far apart as Rio de Janeiro, Athens, Pakistan and Rotherham on the impact of their events; dancing to the Samba Sisters Collective at a lunch time pop up concert; sharing the inter-generational impact of the event through the eyes of my niece Rachel and the excitement of her experiencing WOW for the first time and last but not least watching Jo participate in rather than co-ordinate a WOW festival, including as a panellist in a lively discussion on the future of sex! And of course spending too much money in the WOW marketplace!!!
Overall, it was a great reminder of what an amazing time you can have at a WOW festival – laugh, cry, make new friends but most of all a reminder that WOW is more than just a weekend celebration but a global movement for action and change – with real impacts on those who attend and the communities they represent.
Thanks to all who made this possible – the Queensland Government and all our supporters as well as Jude Kelly and the wonderful teams of WOW producers in London and across the globe and to June Oscar and her team at the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Cathy Hunt AM
Cathy has spent her working life in the cultural economy across the UK, Australia and Hong Kong, as one of the founding directors of consultancy company Positive Solutions, and as a producer and festival director. Cathy was the founder of the QuickstART microloan fund for artists and has written widely on the funding and financing of the arts. She has served on numerous arts boards and is currently a board director of Screen Queensland. As executive director of non-profit company Of One Mind, Cathy has for the past seven years worked in partnership with the WOW Foundation in London to develop and produce WOW (Women of the World) Festivals in Australia.
