Delivered in partnership with the Southbank Centre, WOW-Baltimore builds on the structure and success of London’s inaugural WOW Festival in March 2011. WOW-Baltimore will be a joyous celebration of the formidable strength and inventiveness of women. A pioneering and groundbreaking annual festival, WOW will touch on all facets of personal and professional life, and feature both leading women across all sectors (culture, education, health, politics, athletics, economics, etc.) as well as everyday women with inspiring stories.
WOW will take place at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore and will include a variety of ticketed events, free programs, markets and opportunities for hands-on interaction. It is part of my vision for the Orchestra and the Meyerhoff Hall to become an inclusive and creative hub for whole-community engagement and conversation – not just a space for classical music performance.
Aiming to engage diverse and broad segments of women from the greater Baltimore and D.C. community, WOW will create a welcoming environment for thousands of women to learn, celebrate, debate and be entertained. The festival structure will call on a series of panel discussions, workshops, performance and short inspirational talks called ‘WOW Bites’ from female philosophers, entrepreneurs, faith leaders and community activists.
Current WOW-Baltimore Festival plans include:
– The creation of a Ted.com type virtual conference to link up women and stream festival events
– Partnering with schools to provide role models for young and emerging female leaders
– Stoop Stories Workshops to share the art of storytelling
– Women’s craft collectives to exhibit work and explain their models of economic growth
– Speed-Mentoring (modeled on speed dating) designed for participants to get answers from experts across all fields and exchange ideas.
– A Saturday night concert featuring Mary Chapin Carpenter and well known and local female personalities, comediennes, and performers.
These plans echo the feedback of the more than 400 women (and men) who responded to an open invitation to join myself and other BSO associates for a series of ‘Think-In’ sessions in September and November 2011. Each ‘Think-In’ saw its participates share their ideas for how the festival would engage in diverse conversation and learning for women.