Women Changing the Climate: A festival of women leading climate action

WOMEN CHANGING THE CLIMATE
A festival of women leading climate action

Castelmaine, Victoria, 28-30 March 2025
Venue: Castlemaine Town Hall, 25 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
This is an in-person event, not available by Zoom.

A CALL TO ALL WOMEN 

The Women’s Climate Congress (WCC) invites women of Australia, in all our diversity, to come together with other women to explore how women are leading a national and international paradigm shift to promote more rapid action on climate change based on compassion, kindness, and care for all life on Earth.

Part congress and part festival, this two-day event will mix deep conversation based on the urgency for women to continue to challenge the status quo in relation to the current climate change crisis.

It will be a chance to explore the Women’s Climate Congress A call to climate action Charter for Change:  https://womensclimatecongress.com/charter

Hear keynote presentations about:

• challenging the status quo and amplifying women’s voices and leadership for action on climate change
• shifting the public discourse to multi-stakeholder non-partisan collaboration to promote united action to restore care for the Earth and all life to the centre of all our action on climate.
• Read and discuss the Women’s Charter. Enjoy a game of ‘Serious Pursuits’ to embed our learnings.
• Attend workshops that enable advocacy for women to act on climate change (letters or social media videos and talking to friends) to challenge the status quo and help spread our messages about women and climate.
• Practice the ancient art of being still in nature and waiting, accessing inner deep knowledge, to learn and reflect.

Also enjoy:

• Participating in a pop-up art exhibition, including an invitation to bring your creative craft art works for sale and to exhibit.
• Learning a sacred circle dance.
• Singing and a concert opportunity for Congress participants to join in/perform.
• An opportunity on Friday to visit some of the attractions of the town (eg Buda mansion and/or guided bushwalk).
• Visiting the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens.

OUR INVITATION AND VALUES

We warmly invite women from all walks of life (cis, trans) and gender diverse people who feel drawn to our movement, to participate in this nonpartisan event. This includes those who may have limited capacity to pay the full fee. 

We know that these are tough times financially for many people . In the interests of transparency, we have  explained our philosophy for setting registration fees.

There are of course significant costs to running an event like this including venue hire, catering and audio-visual systems. The WCC is run by volunteers and we depend on donations to function. In our financial decisions we have tried to consider equity, cost-effectiveness, environmental impact and other WCC values. We operate from the principle of: 'offer what you can and ask for what you need'.

In this spirit, we invite you to decide what is within your capacity to pay. If you can, we invite you to offer the higher rates suggested in the registration site and/or give a donation. This helps to support other women to attend at lower cost. If you prefer, we invite you to pay either the lower fee, or if that is still too much, please use the flexible fee options and offer what you can. There are also ‘Melisa’ (honeybee) opportunities for women who want to assist with work tasks for an entry concession. Please contact organisers to discuss this option.

We would love you to attend for the whole time but if this does not work for you, there are 1-day options. There are hotel discounts available (see the registration site) and we can also offer free billeted accommodation. Please let Lyn know if you would like to take up this offer.

We I hope that we have provided enough options for everyone to feel welcome at the event. The venue is wheelchair accessible and we will make every effort to help you if you have special requirements. 

Too complicated?  Need help? 
Please contact the organisers for assistance - see below. 

PROGRAM OULINE 

Friday 28 March: Arrive in Castlemaine, settle into accomodation, activities to enjoy Castlemaine. Dinner?
Saturday 29 March: Pre-paid program at Town Hall plus evening activity ('Serious Pursuits' game) with finger food dinner provided (?Check - need to be clear whether this is dinner)
Sunday 30 March: Pre-paid program at Town Hall, concluding at 4 pm 

FEES AND INCLUSIONS 

We offer the following rates as a guide for you to consider your contribution. 

• Generosity fee - $500
• Full fee (2 days)- $295
• Supported fee  (2 days) - $175
• Full fee (1 day) - $175  [should it be different for Sat and Sunday? because of longer day and dinner on Sat]
  
• Supported fee (1 day) - $100
  
• Flexible fees - pay what you can afford   

These fees include morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on Sat 29 and Sun 30 March and a finger food dinner on Saturday 29 March.

A donation option is also available if you are able to pay a little more than any of the above rates.  Donations over $2 are tax deductible.

ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS

There will be some billets for accommodation, but in and around Castlemaine there is a camp ground, cabins, B&B availability, hotels and motels– just ask Ms Google. Friday offers activities to settle in and enjoy Castlemaine, while the pre-paid events will occur on Saturday and Sunday.

If you would like to be billeted, please express your interest in this option on our registration form.

COVID SAFETY

We will with relevant COVID safety guidlines. 

CONTACTS

For further information and assistance contact:

Margaret de Kam - mdk0550@icloud.com
Jenny Cameron - merrymeetjenny@icloud.com