Full programme announced for International Women's Day 2018

Brighton Dome joins forces with Brighton Women’s Centre and Brighton Museum to celebrate International Women’s Day 2018. Enjoy stalls, talks, tasters and specially commissioned work reflecting on the issues raised throughout the day.

We are delighted to announce our full programme, which you can view or download here.

Join Sali Hughes -The Guardian, Pretty Iconic - in the Old Courtroom as she discusses the impact of the changing beauty industry with three inspirational panellists in Empowerment or Oppression: What does the beauty industry do for women? Worth $56.2 billion in 2016 alone and constantly rising, the Beauty industry is one of the most lucrative in the world. Hughes is here to question why.

Juno Dawson, British trans author of young adult fiction and non-fiction brings her highly-acclaimed book, The Gender Games to Brighton in a talk of the same name. Dawson doesn’t just tell her story, but the story of everyone who is shaped by society's expectations of gender and identity - and what we can do about it. 

Join us for the discussion I'm Not Rain Man: Women and Autism  to challenge stereotypes of people with autism, and the Sussex Police tell us what it’s really like to be a woman on the beat, and how in Sussex, women have climbed to the very top of the force. Brighton Dome’s monthly music night SPECTRUM also hosts a talk on Navigating the Music Industry as a female artist.

FotoDocument and Lendwithcare.org have collaborated to create Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide, showcasing photo essays from global documentary photographers. Brighton Museum hosts Wonder Women, an opportunity to meet some incredible women from history including Brighton suffragette, Minnie Turner, and fossil hunter Mary Anning, whilst getting up close and personal with some of Brighton Museum’s Collections. Tour guide Louise Peskett will also be holding 45-minute-long walking tours of the Royal Pavilion Estate to discover the important Women of Brighton’s history.

In order to gather content for the forthcoming display Queer Looks, a pop-up lookbook studio will be installed in Brighton Museum. The Queer Looks project will explore the cultural heritage of dress in LGBTQ communities in Sussex from 1967– 2017, looking at how clothing is used to express the identities of individuals who identify as LGBTQ. Contribute your own LGBTQ story to the project by wearing or bringing along an outfit that means something special to you. The museum will also be exhibiting VIRGIN TERRITORY, a Film Installation with Creative Tasks, and Their Fight, Our Future - a pop up display of newly created outfits featuring important women in history, by students from Northbrook MET.

Founder of Nail Transphobia, Charlie Craggs, comes to the Brighton Dome Café bar with her pop-up nail salon. In a unique form of activism, Charlie will be giving free manicures to tackle transphobia through nail art, giving people the chance to sit down and have a chat with a trans person and to challenge their misconceptions. Codebar – a female run non-profit initiative collective from London – will be running a workshop on beginners coding in the Brighton Museum Seminar Room.

Other workshops and events include a body movement workshop and the Conversation Café at the Dome; Sing Your Heart Out with Aneesa Chaudhry in the Brighton Dome Concert Hall, a chance to get together with local women to sing, have fun and make some new friends. In the Brighton Museum seminar room, take part in a Body Positivity workshop with Free the Nipple, explore female representation in art with Susie Courtault’s Lost Women of Art or join Sarah Taylor for a Confidence and Creativity workshop to inspire, empower and motivate. There’s also a masterclass in hand massage from Jing Massage alongside the Celebrate Your Heroine: An Accessible Art Workshop in the Museum Lab. 

The Network of International Women for Brighton & Hove is creating a Tapestry in the Brighton Dome’s West Corridor, welcoming all to come and add their own piece to reflect the diversity, heritage and creativity of women who live in our City; and the Real Junk Food Project will be providing delicious food from 12.30pm. 

Find out more about the International Women's Day programme on the event page.