HER: PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED, AN INCLUSIVE NINE-DAY FESTIVAL FOR WOMEN ACROSS AUCKLAND

Taking place across the entirety of Tāmaki Makaurau April 13-22 2023, HER Festival is Aotearoa's only multi-genre festival bringing together community by, and for women.
 
Launching their inaugural program, HER have set the ambitious goal of being the largest platform for all who identify as women* in New Zealand.
 
HER is for feminists of all genders, ages, and ethnicities who enjoy the arts and creative expression, self-development and thought-provoking experiences. Stemmed from a call for interest in 2021, a curated program has been cultivated throughout the last two years into a beautiful FREE programme with a focus on influencing change.
 
Festival Director Ella Mizrahi feels this context has created the perfect environment for a festival like this. “HER will provide a platform for women to connect, create and celebrate the length and breadth of what makes us, us. We are much stronger women are when we lift each other up. It feels incredibly important to create a space for us to do that.”
 
Highlights of the 9-day 2023 festival include a Run Riot sports festival, an immersive walk through the CBD, an art collaboration workshop with Judy Darragh (ONZM) and Yana Dombrowsky-M’Baye, DJ Workshops, Poetry Slam, Film screenings and a Sex Education workshop with BRAVE.
 
The festival runs city-wide with multiple venues coming alive with feminist energy and empowerment in the city centre and suburbs. You can find HER in theatres, community halls and communal spaces.
 
* ‘For every woman, femme queen, AFAB, butch, cis, demi girl, feminine, femme presenting, gender fluid, trans women, women of colour, young women, old women, BBWOC, Indigenous terminology femme identities, mothers, queer women, women who can’t have children, women who don’t want children, women who haven’t even started on their journey, and all those in between. This is for Her.’

Festival Director Ella Mizrahi is now available for interviews.

 
Bio: Ella Mizrahi an award-winning event producer who specialises in large-scale public events, Ella has spent the last three years working as Auckland Council’s Regional Events Lead in the Community Places Team, fostering communities with events like Proud Centres, Dilwali, and Matarki Tu Haha. She is also the co-founder of Celery Productions, a unique events company responsible for free community events and immersive experiences including Art In The Dark.

HER
April 13-22, 2023
Auckland wide
https://www.herfestival.co.nz/
info@herfestival.co.nz

2023 Programme:
 13 April - Te Whakatau - The Welcoming (06:30am)
All are welcome to a celebration of the birth of HER Festival, at Harbourview Reserve in Te Atatū Peninsula. Light refreshments will be provided after the ceremony.
With the sun HER shall rise.
 
14 April - Sex Education with BRAVE
At the Civic, Sponsored by Auckland Live
High school girls will be educated on consent, masturbation sex and sexual health.
 
14 April - DJ workshops
Learn the basic 101s of DJing at the Ellen Melville Centre in Freyberg Square with DJ Alisha. A babysitting service is also available! Booking is essential.
 
14 April - Mother Truckers
In Te Atatū Peninsula, feast at female-owned food trucks, take part in a mother earth planting workshop and flex your creative muscles with free photography out West.
 
15 April - Run Riot sports festival (8 – 5pm)
Sponsored by Auckland Unlimited and New Balance
Throughout the day at Silo Park, there will be free sports activations - from roller skating to podcast walks, abseiling and kickboxing. There’s something for everyone, so come on down and move your body!
 
16 April – Makers Workshop
Artists and makers Judy Darragh ONZM and Yana Dombrowsky-M’Baye host a free workshop to create a collaborative piece for women, to be presented at Depot art gallery.
 
18 April - Movie night
Held at New Lynn community centre, grab the popcorn and settle in for a heart-warming film – announced 1 April!  
 
19 April - Poetry slam competition
Come and watch the poetry queens battle it out for the top prize of $500. Held at Te Oro, with spot prizes on the night.  
 
20 April – Short Film Festival
Presented by Lula Cucchiara, a short film festival at Lopdell House celebrating female filmmakers.
 
21 April - GI’NAL
Presented by Jaycee Tanuvasa IMAN
A theatre show of vignettes For the Girls and MVPFAF+ WOM🌺N at Mangere Arts Centre
 
22 April - Art Trail (7:30pm – 10pm)
Follow the trail from Pocket Park in Beresford Square, across Hopetoun Bridge, and down to Western Park.
Experience music, projection mapped buildings, light installations and sound experiences from interviews with Sex Workers about what power means to them.
 
22 April - HER Story (10 – 2pm)
– a day of talks by inspiring women with shared and extraordinary experiences. Stories on what power looks like, sex in a modern world, Gen Z Feminism and much much more!
 
 HER is sponsored by Auckland Unlimited, Mecca, New Balance, NZME, Omnigraphics, Foundation North, AVS, Johnston, Chapman Tripp, Ponsonby Business Association, Auckland Live.

Michelle Lafferty