POW! Thanet festival announces 2021 theme
POW! Thanet are delighted to announce that the theme of the POW! 2021 Festival will be POWer in PROTEST
POW! Thanet will be celebrating International Women's Day 2021 with a Greenham Common 40th anniversary celebration and an in-depth look at the history, present and future of protest through performance, art, culture, food and more.
POW! Thanet is Thanet’s major annual multidisciplinary arts festival celebrating International Women’s Day, bringing together artists, venues and organisations across Thanet to showcase empowering events including performances, exhibitions, workshops, talks and opportunities to get involved. POW! Thanet festival celebrates the power of women and female creativity, and explores women’s issues and feminism.
The POW! team invite artists and producers, individuals and groups to contribute proposals for the next festival in response to the theme and the ideas formed by our team of 'Community Programmers' who would particularly like to see submissions that:
nurture both the community and the individual; nourishing mind, body and soul.
bring the community together with events that are relatable and accessible to the diversity of Thanet residents.
use community spaces; libraries, schools, and community halls - bringing POW! to the people!
The Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camps were established in 1981 to protest the British government’s decision to hold nuclear weapons at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire. Initiated by a Welsh group, Women for Life on Earth, the peace camps’ protest activities included 36 women chaining themselves to the base fence in 1981; 30,000 women responding to a chain letter and joining hands around the base at the Embrace the Base event in 1982; and in 1983, 70,000 protesters forming a 14-mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston and the ordinance factory at Burghfield.
The protest involved only women as they used their identity as mothers acting in the name of their children and future generations. The women went directly against societal expectations of them to power their protest; in refusing to go home, they challenged the traditional notion that a women’s place was in the home. The women’s protest activities inspired other peace camps across Europe.
POW! Thanet’s 2021 festival will take place across Thanet and globally online, on 5-8th March 2021 in the run up to International Women's Day on Monday March 8th 2021.
Funded by Arts Council England, the festival is entering its sixth year, growing in size thanks to partnerships across East Kent. The festival values the local offer and the area’s creative talent, while reaching out into the UK and internationally for inspiration.
More information can be found and ideas submitted on the POW! Website at www.powthanet.com/call-out-2021