Festival of The Girl Selects the North East to Host Its First Event Outside the Capital in Partnership With NorthStandard
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Breaking new ground beyond the capital, the not-for-profit organisation founded in 2019 to challenge gender stereotypes and empower young girls, Festival of The Girl, has announced its first-ever event outside London. Scheduled for March 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the event is being delivered in partnership with Newcastle-based global marine insurer, NorthStandard.
Designed for primary school aged girls and their families, including siblings of any gender, the event will take place on Sunday, 22nd March at Newcastle University.
To date, the Festival of The Girl team has directly supported more than 37,000 girls, showing them that their voices matter, their passions are valid, and their futures are limitless. The festival provides a safe and inclusive space where girls can try new and exciting activities and meet inspiring female role models from a wide range of fields.
Past events have seen girls exploring topics that include aviation, wrestling, farming, robotics, TV production, wellbeing, confidence and more.
The decision to bring this inspiring festival to the North East stems from a connection between the two organisations that began earlier this year. The spark was ignited when one of Festival of The Girl’s founders, Jen Toll, attended NorthStandard’s International Women’s Day breakfast, where the idea to expand the festival beyond London first took shape.
NorthStandard’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion employee resource group provided generous funding support, reflecting their commitment to empowering young girls.
Andrea Preston, Chief People Officer at NorthStandard, explains, “We believe every girl deserves to see the limitless possibilities ahead and to grow up in an environment that nurtures her passion and confidence.
As an organisation, we are committed to our region and we understand how important it is for girls in the North East to be exposed to new opportunities, encouraged to try new activities, and feel empowered to become the next generation of female leaders and innovators in the North East.”
This partnership embodies a shared vision of creating safe and inclusive spaces where girls can discover their potential and find inspiration from female role models across a variety of industries, including traditionally male-dominated sectors such as maritime and insurance.
Working closely with NorthStandard and other Newcastle-based organisations, the Festival of The Girl team envisions this as just the beginning of a series of impactful events designed to inspire, support, and empower girls across the North East.
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For more information visit: www.festivalofthegirl.com To really get a feel for the festival watch this brief video: Festival of The Girl 2024 Highlights For press information please contact: Abi Wright | abi@festivalofthegirl.com | 07828 026604 Social Handles: Instagram @festivalofthegirl / Facebook Festival of The Girl Notes to Editors About the Founders and Festival of The Girl Abi Wright, Laura Mulvaney and Jen Toll are the founders and forces behind Festival of The Girl. They were inspired to create this movement so they could break down limiting gender stereotypes and create a more equal future for their own daughters. The first Festival of The Girl took place in 2019 with a live event followed by virtual events in 2020 and 2021 and they’ve been live again since 2022. This year they launched Festival of The Boy with a nationwide billboard campaign. The Festival of The Girl mission statement Festival of The Girl exists because we want to change what it means to be a girl. We want to remove the limitations gender stereotypes place on girls. And we want to start this conversation with primary school aged kids, and their grown-ups. We’ve created exciting and accessible interactive events to give girls access to an incredible line up of diverse female role models, workshops and activities. Our festivals are safe environments for girls to have fun, try something new, and most importantly; leave with a boost of self-confidence. Challenging the statistics Extensive research shows gender stereotypes are set by age 4 and that by age 7 girls are already struggling with low self-esteem and body image issues. The festival’s founders want to challenge this by providing inspiring and engaging content for girls, particularly before they start secondary school. About the Event Partner - NorthStandard NorthStandard is one of the leading providers of global marine insurance products and services across the maritime industries. Established through the merger of North P&I Club and the Standard Club in February 2023 and ‘A’ rated by S&P Global, NorthStandard has premium revenues exceeding US$886 million, free reserves of US$800 million and mutual pool tonnage surpassing 270 million GT. From headquarters in the UK and with offices throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, NorthStandard offers a unique blend of worldwide presence and class-leading expertise across multiple specialist areas, including P&I, FD&D, War Risks, Strike & Delay, Hull and Machinery and ancillary insurance. Its Sunderland Marine and Coastal & Inland divisions also provide cover for owners’ fixed premium P&I, fishing vessels, inland waterway and coastal trading vessels. NorthStandard’s comprehensive local market and sector knowledge is underpinned by continuous investments in market-leading digital technologies. NorthStandard is a leading member of the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) and is fully committed to upholding the shared objectives of its 12 independent member clubs, which provide liability cover for approximately 85% of the world’s ocean-going tonnage.
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