Tickets are on sale now for the inaugural WOW Women of the World Festival in Baltimore, running March 2 – 4. Brainchild of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop, the festival is modeled after the premier WOW Festival launch in London’s Southbank Centre last year.
The festival was created “to celebrate the formidable power of women; to make change happen; to remind us of our history; to draw attention to injustice; to enjoy each other’s company; and to encourage men to add their support as we set out to achieve a fairer world”, as the 2012 festival program states. Alsop, who participated in the 2011 festival in London as a mentor, panelist and all-female orchestra leader, has partnered with festival founder Jude Kelley to re-create the experience for the first time in the United States.
The 3-day festival will consist of discussions, forums, mentorship panels, performances, workshops and film screenings, with topics ranging from the development of female entrepreneurship and community development to international issues like human trafficking and gender inequality.
Rooted as a local community endeavor, the decisions about who to invite as speakers and which topics to broach grew largely from a series of public discussions, in which hundreds of local women were invited to participate. The goal was to identify topics and themes relevant to women and girls in Baltimore, connecting them to larger gender-related issues around the world.
Interaction is the key to understanding the program, with dozens of engaging workshops such as a speed-dating style mentorship forum and open discussion panels.
As the festival’s official partner, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be playing throughout the weekend, including three performances of Richard Einhorn’s score to accompany the 1928 film, The Passion of Joan of Arc. The BSO will accompany the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.
Tickets for the daytime festival activities are reasonably priced at $10/day and are on sale now. All weekend events take place at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
(Thumbnail logo courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.)
