Hop on the WOW bus at this year's Women of the World Festival

The Women of the World Festival Rotherham, a celebration of women, girls, trans, and non-binary communities, is set to bring vibrant fun to Rotherham.

The free festival will be back for its third annual event on Saturday, May 11 from 11am to 4pm and will be staged across All Saints’ Square, Minster Gardens, various venues on High Street and Imperial Buildings.

It will feature a feast for the eyes and ears, with acrobatic shows, art installations, poetry readings, live music, and dance performances. There will also be plenty to participate in: you can hop on the WOW Girls Festival Bus, refresh your wardrobe at the clothes swap, or go on air for a new podcast. You can even pitch in building an adventure playground with bamboo poles and giant ropes.

There will be a wide variety of free creative workshops to join, from jewellery making to aerial hoop acrobatics, feminist embroidery to Zumba. For children and families, there will be games and workshops with the Happy Human Project. At Brightbox, people of all ages can grab some power tools and start building whatever they fancy.

Featured talks include panel discussions on neurodiversity, gender equity and mental health, the UK migrant experience, and recovery.

You can also see the WOWsers’ art installation created by young women from the Bill Chafer Youth Centre in Bramley, which shines a light on the challenges girls facing when walking alone in public spaces.

The festival is run by the charity Women of the World (WOW) Rotherham, which is dedicated to “raising awareness globally of the issues women and girls face and discussing solutions together”.

Amy Lilley, creative programming and events manager at RMBC, said: “Whilst working on my very first WOW Rotherham Festival with lots of partners, two fantastic producers and the brilliant team at Flux, I’ve come across lots of inspiring independent businesses, artists, communities, and fabulous people Rotherham has in abundance!

“I think that’s what the festival is all about: discovering and exploring new things; discussing topics that are important to Rotherham and putting them all on the international WOW platform.

“We have curated a busy, vibrant and diverse programme I think everyone will love and learn from, and we can’t wait to share it with you.”

Neath Champion-Shorr, WOW creative producer, added: “We are so excited to see the festival come to life for its third iteration and cannot wait to have the community see how they sculpted and shaped such a glorious event.”

WOW Rotherham is part of the global WOW Foundation, a UK charity that believes “a gender equal world is desirable, possible and urgently required”. The charity, which launched in 2010, holds Women of the World festivals across the globe – so far, they’ve held them in 45 different cities and towns across six continents.

To learn more about the Women of the World Festival Rotherham, view the full programme and book for free but limited capacity events, you can visit wow.fluxrotherham.org.uk