Celebrate International Women’s Day at The Riverfront!

Each March we celebrate International Women’s day at The Riverfront with some fantastic free performances and taster sessions all with a female focus. International Women’s Day 2024 takes place on 8 March 2024 and this year the theme is #InspireInclusion.

Organisers of International Women’s Day state, “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #InspireInclusion."

On Saturday 9 March from 10am – 4pm we will be hosting our annual International Women’s Day event. Throughout the day there will be performances from celebrated Welsh musicians, community groups and panel discussions from inspiring local women. Delicious refreshments and food will be available to enjoy whilst meeting and chatting with like-minded people. 

There are also opportunities for children and adults to craft and create, as well as a range of creative, expressive workshops to take part in. 

Guests are welcome to stay all day and enjoy a variety of events or come and go at their own leisure. All events, which will run from 10am-4pm, are free, and no booking is required! 

Our website and social media pages will be updated regularly with more information and a timetable will be published closer to the event date.  

our timetable

International Womens Day Launch 2024! 

Leader Jayne Mudd and Newport Youth Council will officially launch the event. 

Creative Make and Take Sessions  

Artists Heidi Mehta and Najiya Atkar will be doing free creative workshops throughout the day. For the young and young at heart. 

Cyfannol Women's Aid Song
1:30pm - 1:40pm

Cyfannol Women's Aid's International Women's Day song speaks to the power of women supporting women and calls on us all to raise each other up! "Strong Women" is based on words of wisdom, inspiration and empowerment shared by Cyfannol's supporters and crafted into a song by singer-songwriter Jay Ryan. It is being performed today by Jay and her colleagues from Cyfannol Women's Aid, who invite you to join them in celebrating strong women everywhere!

Cyfannol Women's Aid: Together we are stronger
1:40pm - 2:00pm

Cyfannol Women's Aid's International Women's Day song speaks to the power of women supporting women and calls on us all to raise each other up! "Strong Women" is based on words of wisdom, inspiration and empowerment shared by Cyfannol's supporters and crafted into a song by singer-songwriter Jay Ryan. It is being performed today by Jay and her colleagues from Cyfannol Women's Aid, who invite you to join them in celebrating strong women everywhere!

Henna, Hair Braiding and Massage Workshops 

Pop along to the Newport Sudenese Community stall for workshops. 

Ink and Adversity: Overcoming Challenges in the Writing World
11:40am-12:40pm

Join us for an enlightening literacy panel in partnership with Newport and Gwent Literary Club, featuring female writers:
Carole Hailey, Alis Hawkins, Catherine Fisher and Sylvia Mason, where words weave stories and empowerment ignites.  

Carole Hailey - After completing a six-month Guardian novel writing course taught by Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, Carole Hailey abandoned a twenty-year career in law to undertake an MA at Goldsmiths and then a PhD at Swansea in Creative Writing. Carole’s debut novel The Silence Project, published in 2023, was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, a Booksellers Association Indie Book of the Month and a Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month. Her second novel will be published in 2025. 

Alis Hawkins - Alis grew up in Ceredigion and now lives just over the border from Monmouth. With an Oxford English degree under her belt, she trained as a Speech and Language Therapist and latterly specialised in autism. Meanwhile, she was writing historical crime fiction. The Teifi Valley Coroner series – twice shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, is set in 1850s Cardiganshire in the wake of the infamous Rebecca Riots. In her new series, the Oxford Mysteries, Alis has taken Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughan, her main protagonist from Llangranog to Oxford at the beginning of the women’s college movement. Non is a misfit who can’t help getting involved in suspicious deaths but she’s also a polymath, a rebel and a woman who isn’t prepared to bow to society’s views on what’s appropriate. The first book in the series, A Bitter Remedy was Waterstones’ Welsh Book of the Month and the second,
The Skeleton Army, is published on April the 4th.

Catherine Fisher - Catherine Fisher is a poet and author of over 30 novels and short stories for children and Young adults. Her novels INCARCERON  and SAPPHIQUE were  New York Times bestsellers and Times Book of the Year. Her most recent work is The Red Gloves and Other Stories.

Sylvia Mason - Previously a teacher of English in secondary schools in Bristol, Newport and the Valleys Sylvia has spent her retirement developing her interests in local and women's history and literature. She is author of two books "Every Woman Remembered" which told the story of the women of Newport in the Great War and "Mary Frost Wife, Mother, Chartist" which focusses on the hidden and largely undocumented life of one of the women at the heart of the Chartist movement in South Wales. 

International Womens Day Art Exhibition

Prith B is a visual artist of Indian-African heritage whose current focus is on figurative painting.“My work is about telling stories about women. Sometimes from history, like the Ayah’s of London, or from the present day. I often think there can be a whole world in just a single woman's experience. You might say my work is about the female experience, amplifying our voice so that we are heard, seen and acknowledged, by each other as well as the wider world. I am also interested in representations of the female body and how we as women might reclaim this imagery and make it our own again.”

NuWave Dance Performance
10:45am - 11:00am

NuWave is Rubicon Dance's performance group for people over 60. They rehearse every week at the Riverfront on Friday's and have performed the past couple of years at the Riverfront's International Women's Day celebrations. They're looking forward to performing a fun dance again this year to kick off the celebrations to Tom Jones' She's a Lady.

Live Music

Indulge in the soulful melodies and empowering tunes from female artists, filling our foyer with the vibrant sounds of celebration.

Lunch 

Light lunch will be served.

Music by Fantastic Community Groups

Music by Coffee and Laughs and Age Alive, and Take a Breath Choir.

Presentations 

A wide range of presentations will be available throughout the day all female focused as individuals share their stories.

Reality Theatre Presents ‘The Relevance of International Women’s Day and the Older Woman’ and ‘Women Today’ (16+)
1:30pm-2:00pm

An Introductory talk followed by a 20 minute dark and comedic performance, showing what life is really like for older women today. Warning: contains some bad language, mention of sex, and general bad behaviour all round, which is not suitable for children or a younger audience.

Tori Lyons - Open Rehearsal for 'My Normal F***ing Sex Life' (16+)
11:00am-12:00pm

Tori Lyons will be presenting an open rehearsal of her debut one-woman show, My Normal F***ing Sex Life, a hilarious, moving and urgent show about the normal and not-so-normal sexual experiences of female and female-presenting people that contribute to attitudes towards sex and shame. After the rehearsal, there will be a Q&A with Tori, the creative team and members of New Pathways, a rape crisis and sexual abuse support service. 

The launch of the Newport Women’s Bursary 

The Newport Women’s Forum will be launching their Newport Women’s Bursary. The aim of the bursary is to help women, aged 18 and over, fulfil their ambitions. 

Wellness Space

Experience rejuvenation and empowerment at our wellness space, celebrating women's health and vitality.

'Wild Woman of the Wye’ discussion with Angela Jones
2:00pm-3:00pm

They call me the swimming detective, with over 40 years wild swimming the Wye and Usk Rivers and I have an intimate understanding and knowledge of the flora and fauna, recording and observing all the changes to the river environment. I try to play a significant role in safeguarding the river’s future and highlighting the decline in species and habitat loss.

I am a strong campaigner for cleaner rivers working tirelessly on gathering information and data and holding those to account who disrespect our natural resources that nature so kindly shares with us. Writing and appearing on many pollution programs Panorama , Countryfile, BBC News, Sky , ITV and recently with George Monbiot on programmes such as Rivercide the girl with the wooden spoon (who runs her business from her phone and no home internet ) known as the wild woman of the Wye refuses to allow the death of her beloved River Wye and Usk by holding to account the many contributors who continue to pollute!

Yin & Yang of Movement 

An exuberant expression of yang energy through salsa dance followed by a quieter, calming expression of yin energy via Qigong with Carmela Gianfagna. 

What does International Women's Day mean to you?

We asked our collegaues, friends, supporters and partners what International Women's Day means to them. Here are some of their responses: