POW Thanet's Rosanagh Fuller: 'We wanted to reflect on our past'

Thanet celebrates International Women's Day for the full month of March, thanks to the Power of Women festival, which returns to our coastline March 1-31.

Marking its 10th anniversary, this year's festival looks at the evolution of women and their creativity in society and where they are heading, under the theme a Decade of Dissent.

With a line up of music, visual arts, comedy, performance and film, the festival is also an opportunity for POW Thanet to take a beat and look back at the festival's past and its place within feminism and the pursuit for equality for women, girls and non-binary people, as the festival's CEO, Rosanagh Fuller explains.

How did POW come to decide on this year's theme and how does it follow on from 2024's Restival?
2025 is our 10th anniversary of running an annual multi-arts festival celebrating International Women's Day.

We wanted to reflect on our past, and how it sat within the wider history of feminism and the fight for gender equality, celebrate our present and our place within a really special community of creativity and activists, and reflect on the future - where is gender equality heading? How can we ensure equity in areas such as technology and climate action for new generations? 

2024's Restival really highlighted the weight of women's labour, the legacy of our predecessors who fought for workplace equity, rights for carers and discussions around unpaid work. Gender equality impacts all facets of life so we wanted to explore the idea of women's creativity and place in society yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

With a Decade of Dissent, what is the overall picture POW is presenting? 
POW Thanet began with 20 women gathering in a room to discuss how Thanet could creatively celebrate International Women's Day. We now engage over 20,000 people with live and digital events and content each year.

Our mission is to show how the arts and culture have the transformative power to make the world more equal. Our history is rooted in a wider narrative of women gathering, creating something out of nothing, collaborating, discussing and bringing awareness to issues impacting women and girls.

Today we're opening up themes of gender equality for all ages and genders showing how culture impacts our society and vice versa.

Why is dissent important in the fight for equality? 
The cost of living crisis, funding cuts and a woeful lack of services, resources and ambition mean things are getting worse - women in Thanet live 10.2 years less than the UK average and we have the highest rates of rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse in the county. We're in the top 10% most deprived in the country and one in three children live in poverty.

We have to be loud, get visible and draw attention to gender inequalities in our community and beyond. POW convenes businesses, venues, creatives, community organisations and residents to come together to bring about change.

Women, girls and non-binary people are simply not prioritised in our society yet we know that if gender equality is achieved, everyone benefits. We work with our community to creatively find ways to challenge perceptions, attitudes and ways of being. 

Dissent has punky connotations. Creatively and artistically, is this always the case? How can dissent play out in art? 
It really does and we're inspired by the feminist history of using creativity to convey messages of equality. Our recent schools project saw children learn about art in protest with local artist Karen Vost - from the Suffragettes to Greenham Common, art has been used to create humour, empathy, shock and action when fighting for our rights and freedoms.

Women creatives receive very little funding, recognition or sector support and are often caregivers, neurodivergent or disabled. We want to show that while grassroots art and activism is important, policy change, sector support and statutory changes are needed for women and non-binary creatives to be truly valued in society.

What can people expect from POW on Tour? 
We worked with theatre maker Susan Crothers at the 2022 IWD Festival and she has developed her show Troubled which is a 60 minute one woman show about love, death and division told with tea and biscuits. 

A key aim of this project is to encourage tangible change in the understanding of mental health conditions, such as BPD, as well as awareness of the impact of the Troubles for Northern Irish/ Irish individuals and communities.

We're really excited to be supporting Susan with three stops on her UK tour. Plus, we'll be hitting the road and raising awareness of social isolation at different summer festivals across Thanet so keep your eyes peeled! 

What are some of the events you're most looking forward to in this year's festival?  
Scary Little Girls are bringing menopause-themed cabaret to Margate, we've got a gorgeous jazz trio led by Jessica Laurens for our headline music gig, and an impactful exhibition on Maiden, Mother, Crone by artist Rebecca Strickson. Plus we've got our own Decade of Dissent exhibition featuring the story of POW, a mixer event for Creative Professionals and lots of dance performances, workshops and shorts.

Age Against The Machine is a panel talk on ageism and creativity, plus screenings of some seminal feminist docs and new shorts created by local young people. We've got comedy from Harriet Kelmsly and Helen Heckety and we're kicking off the month with Screaming into the Void - a beachside collective screaming workshop to vent our rage at the inequalities of the world.

There's something for everyone and we've got free tickets for young people and those on no income. Plus we've got new sweatshirts and I can't wait to see the whole of Thanet wearing them in solidarity! Great art needs to be funded and this is a visible way for people to show their support. 

POW Thanet runs March 1-31. For more information or to book tickets, visit powthanet.com