In honour of our fourth year in Australia (!!!), we're celebrating all things "anniversary." Technically an anniversary celebrates something that happened on a certain date in the previous year, but we’re bending the rules. Perhaps we'll hear a story about a one-week anniversary or one-day anniversary. Maybe our storytellers will unlock a memory in their past and have the chance to reflect on the fact this year is the 10 or 20 or 50 year anniversary of becoming a working woman/Royal super-fan/fighter pilot/former smoker. Maybe something memorable happened at an anniversary event they attended, or maybe someone's parents’ wedding anniversaries inspired a funny or poignant story. Regardless of the inspiration, it's party time on the Generation Women stage as we end the year, and you're all invited to the celebration!
Our performer line-up:
Team 20s: Montana Papadinis is an Actor and Comedian from Melbourne. Being a woman in comedy can be hard but she won’t let that stop her from making people laugh and inspiring other young women to chase their dreams. Photo credit: Liv Morison
Team 30s: Armita Abdollahyan works with refugee and migrant women helping them in their settlement journey in Australia. Armita herself came to Australia from Iran seven years ago. Armita is recently involved in the Australian Women- Life-Freedom campaign supporting the current revolution in Iran.
Team 40s: Nicole Gurd is a mother, a lover, a student, a friend, and a work in progress. Nicole facilitates mindful movement workshops and develops programs for public high schools. She feels all the feels, all the time - and loves to write about it!
Team 50s: Jo Devlin was born in England to an Irish father and English mother in a very working-class area. She's had 3 lives; hairdresser; psychiatric nurse and social worker. Her passions are attachment theory, family violence, and dogs. Jo is currently a national family violence specialist for The Salvation Army, after leaving the role of director at Safe Steps. Jo is a staunch feminist for many years, also known for bar fights and heavy drinking.
Team 60s: Karyn Siegmann is a librarian who spent most of her career managing public libraries. After being made unexpectedly redundant three years ago she continues to consult to public libraries and is a qualified celebrant.
Team 70s: Sylvie Leber has worked in education, science, community, media, the performing and visual arts, most notably in the music industry. She's a human rights activist involved in setting up Victoria's first rape crisis centre, the Women's Theatre Group and RRR's Give Men-a-Pause show. Her song 'Intoxicated' is on the Brazen Hussies doco soundtrack.
Generation Women is an award-winning cross-generational storytelling night founded in New York in 2017, Sydney in 2018, Melbourne in 2020, and Canberra in 2022. Each month, six women of note read an original piece on a theme. Of those women, one is in her 20s, her 30s, her 40s, her 50s, her 60s, and her 70s+.
Hosted by Dee Palanisamy, Produced by Brooke Farmer & Donna Logue, Hopepunk Productions. Created by Georgia Clark.