Singapore has no shortage of girl bosses, so break away from the male-centric programmes for a festival that celebrates women creators, thinkers and change-makers – Festival of Women: N.O.W (short for No Ordinary Work). Since its successful debut in 2019, its 2020 return sees a digital second edition from July 15 to August 2. The digital switch features an anchor exhibition, live-streamed performances, a digitalised competition, aurality projects, video narratives, conversations, and workshops – all accessible online.
As its name suggests, the virtual interdisciplinary festival spotlights the diverse narratives of women from various backgrounds while celebrating alliances and solidarity between women through everything from performing arts to visual arts and workshops to talks. See the world through various lenses, and get different perspectives on issues such as identity, class and race. Through these works, the eye-opening festival aims to educate, raise awareness, and spark conversations among people.
"N.O.W. celebrates the diversity of the female experience focusing on concerns that sit at the intersections of class, race, gender and highlights the structures, systems that perpetuate inequalities," shares artistic director Noorlinah Mohamed who conceptualised the festival in 2019. "In doing so, we ask ourselves, what is this society we live in and how can we make and hold space for others who do not fit in? Who has a voice and who gets heard? And how do those with access amplify, make, and hold space for others who may not enjoy the same privilege? These are questions that thread through the programme of N.O.W."
The main star is The Women of N.O.W., a digital exhibition that showcases interviews with over 25 women from different sectors including social services, education, migrant worker rights and resource management who generating awareness on the overlooked gaps in society.
Other highlights include the verbatim documentary performance Entangled Intimacies: Transnational Divorce Narratives which explores the lives of non-citizen migrant married women and their experiences with limited financial resources, among others; the exhibition Unseen Labour which translates narratives of the unpaid labour of care and intimacy performed by women into cross-stitch patterns; and one-woman show King where actress and playwright Jo Tan flex her clever wit and satire as Singaporean OL (short for office lady) who cross-dresses as a man for an office party, highlighting the accesses and limits of male privilege. The festival then wraps up in its third and final week with programmes centered around the concept of aurality and the voice, including the radio play The Book of Mothers, and talks Sound Sense and Carving Space Underground.
Alternatively, bring your ideas to life with the return of the 24-hour Playwriting Competition, and sharpen your digital storytelling skills with the Writing in the Digital workshop. If you're feeling generous, contribute your dollars to T:>Care, a Creative Action Resilience Enabling initiative to support projects created and developed by women to make a positive change in their communities. Donations can be made via giving.sg/theatreworks-singapore-limited/tcare.
For the full list of programmes, visit notordinarywork.com/festivalofwomen. Live events are streamed via T:>Works' YouTube and SoundCloud channels. Mark your calendar now (pun intended) for Festival of Women: N.O.W to not miss out.
