Factory International

WOW Manchester

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Collage of speakers at WOW festival with 'WOW - Women of the World Manchester' logo in the middle
Date
24 - 26 May 2024
This event has ended

Women of the World Festival is coming to Aviva Studios for a weekend of innovative workshops, vibrant discussions, and a bustling Marketplace.

Celebrate with world-class speakers, activists, and performers, including Mel B, Jordan Stephens, Julia Gillard, Maxine Peake, Zawe Ashton, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, DJ Paulette, and Chimene Suleyman.

Unite with Greater Manchester and beyond for transformative conversations and incredible performances. Visit the Social for free events across the weekend featuring WOW pop-ups, poetry, workshops, and artwork. There’s plenty to stumble upon.

Plus keep an eye out for our Moments of Unity – moments throughout the festival (two or three times a day!) where the space will come to a standstill for a moment of magic Including Anne-Marie Imafidon in conversation with Jude Kelly and Latanya Mapp Frett from Rockefeller Philanthropy and Pradeepa Jeeva from Global Fund for Women exploring why only 1.9% of funding reaches women's organisations.

Whether you’re a seasoned activist or dipping your toes into ideas about gender equity for the first time, WOW Manchester is for you.

Attending WOW Manchester

Download the full events listings (PDF) →

Ticket information

  • You need a ticket to access the main WOW Manchester day programme.
  • Certain evening events require you to buy a separate ticket for that event, such as Mel B, Jordan Stephens and Sara Pascoe.
  • You can still drop by to Aviva Studios that weekend and enjoy our free events and activities in the Social area but will need a ticket to access the WOW programme.
  • Day tickets are available for Saturday and Sunday. Each day features a different line-up so take your pick, or bag a Weekend Ticket and come along to both.
  • Kids under 12 can attend for free across the weekend.

Evening talks

These events require a separate ticket. Click on each event to purchase your ticket.

Weekend Ticket

All events below are included in your Weekend ticket.

Events

Credits

WOW Manchester commissioned and produced by Factory International and The WOW Foundation.

WOW Festival was originally produced and presented by Southbank Centre.

Access information

Our full address is Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ and the what3words is chop.feeds.chase.

You can approach Aviva Studios along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield). Both entrances to the building have double sets of glass doors.

Once inside Aviva Studios, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. The flooring throughout the building is smooth concrete.

The entrance to the Hall is by lift, escalator or stairs from one side of the Social beside the brick arches. There is only one escalator, and this will take you up to the Hall before the show, and will be reversed so that you can travel down at the end of the performance.

The Social has a range of seating, including those with arms and backs.

The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points.

Our building is large. We have portable stools available to borrow if you would benefit from resting along the way during your visit.

We have wheelchair spaces and seats at standing events for all events.

There are accessible toilets on all public levels of our building.

Accessible toilets are located inside the main toilets space in the brick arches of the Social.

Here you’ll find a mixture of accessible cubicles with left- or right-hand transfer, towards the back of the space, as well as ambulant accessible cubicles with grab rails, as well as a Changing Places facility.

The toilets in the brick arches of the Social are split into male, female and gender neutral – all of which contain accessible cubicles. There are shared handwashing facilities in each arch – they have soap dispensers under the mirrors to your left and dryers to the right. There are separate handwashing facilities inside the accessible cubicles.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in both Hall Foyers, at stalls and circle level.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in the Warehouse Foyer.

You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets at Aviva Studios.

Assistance dogs are welcome in our building, and we can provide mats and water bowls on request, just ask a host when you arrive. We can also take care of your assistance dog if you do not want to take your dog into the performance space. Please also refer to our assistance dogs policy.

If you are bringing an assistance dog to a ticketed event, please let us know in advance by contacting access@factoryinternational.org or calling our access phone number: 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).

All Conversation Stations across the weekend will have live captioning.

The following evening events will also have captioning:

WOW Manchester: Brutally Honest – An Evening with Mel B

WOW Manchester: Weirdo - An evening with Sara Pascoe

WOW Manchester: An Evening with Jordan Stephens

All Moments of Unity across the weekend will have BSL interpretation and there will be a roaming BSL interpreter available across the day to support with access to other activity across the day programme.

The following evening events will also have BSL interpretation:

WOW Manchester: Brutally Honest – An Evening with Mel B

WOW Manchester: Weirdo - An evening with Sara Pascoe

WOW Manchester: An Evening with Jordan Stephens

Download our plain text guide to WOW Manchester below.

Plain Text Guide (Word Doc) →

Travel information

Aviva Studios can be approached along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).

Our closest stations are:

Salford Central station: 0.4 miles

Deansgate station and Deansgate-Castlefield tram: 0.6 miles

St Peter’s Square tram: 0.6 miles

Manchester Victoria station is approximately one mile from Aviva Studios

Manchester Piccadilly station is approximately 1.3 miles from Aviva Studios

Click on the links above to find detailed access information for each station.

By Bike

There are 40 bike parking spaces at Aviva Studios including space for two accessible bikes.

National Cycling Route 6 passes close to the venue and this TfGM webpage can help with route planning.

You can also hire bikes from on-street docking stations across the city centre. The closest docking stations to our venue are currently on Deansgate by Liverpool Road and (400m from the building) and by King Street (500m from the building). Take a look at Transport for Greater Manchester’s webpage for advice on cycle hire.

By Walking and Other Active Means

Aviva Studios can be approached along Water Street via Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).

If you're coming from Quay Street, the safest route to avoid construction works is via the cut-through opposite Gartside Street and past Booking.com.

All footways in the surrounding area are well lit and there are appropriate crossings across all main roads.

Pedestrians with visual impairment are recommended to approach the building via Water Street, from Liverpool Road. This route has traditional carriageway and footway design with fixed street furniture which should help with navigation to the entrance.

A footbridge at Left Bank in Spinningfields provides an accessible link across the River Irwell to Salford Central station, and a further footbridge also links Aviva Studios with the Salford area of Middlewood Locks.

Free bus services stop at all city-centre stations, and near to Aviva Studios along Deansgate, Bridge St and Quay St. Buses on these free routes are wheelchair accessible. For full details of the free bus routes, please visit the TfGM website.

Free bus services stop at all city-centre stations, and near to Aviva Studios along Deansgate, Bridge St and Quay St. Buses on these free routes are wheelchair accessible. For full details of the free bus routes, please visit the TfGM website.

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