Jude Kelly
Jude Kelly launched the Women of the World (WOW) Festival in 2010, this festival celebrates women and girls and looking at the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential. To date, WOW has reached over two million people worldwide.
The WOW Foundation produces WOW festivals across the world to celebrate women and girls, take a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, and raise awareness globally of the issues they face and possible solutions.
It is the biggest, most comprehensive and most significant festival dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equality for women and girls. WOW Festivals are presented by arrangement with Southbank Centre.
Jude was Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, Britain's largest cultural institution, from 2005 to 2018. In the course of her career she has directed numerous award-winning theatrical productions, working with Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart and Dawn French, among others.
She gained major recognition as the founding director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, which she established as an acknowledged centre of excellence.
She is an award-winning director of over 40 productions for stage and screen. In her 26-year career, Jude founded Solent People's Theatre and then Battersea Arts Centre, establishing it as a national venue. In 1985, she joined the York Festival as Artistic Director and then the Royal Shakespeare Company, before becoming the founding director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.
As Artistic Director and then CEO of the country’s largest regional theatre, she established the West Yorkshire Playhouse as an acknowledged centre of excellence on a local, national and international scale, developing an ever-expanding policy of access for all. In 1997, she was awarded the OBE for her services to the theatre.
Jude left the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2002 to found METAL, artistic laboratory spaces in London and Liverpool. METAL provides a platform for creative 'hunches' and ideas can be pursued. It also involves cross-art collaborations at an international level and developing strategic projects to affect the built environment, people, communities and philosophies. She led the cultural aspects of London's Olympic bid and was made a CBE in 2015.