Media Releases

For media inquiries contact The Girl To Woman Festival Media Contact

November 21st 2018

Girl To Woman – A new Beginning

Dear Girl to Woman Community,

For the past five years volunteers from across Australia have collaborated to offer a rich and unique festival that inspires and celebrates girls and women of all ages. 

The reason for its great success is you.

Year after year families and girls have embraced whole-heartedly something very special, with many returning each summer to be part of the Girl to Woman Festival.

In a world in which inequality is still rife, the festival brought a different flavour to the table - a festival in which fathers, brothers, mothers and grandparents shared an equal celebration and appreciation for the girls and young women in their lives.
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Thank you to all who have been a part of this beautiful footprint of what is possible in society when we come together as a community with true care and collaboration.

So, where to now for Girl to Woman?

The Girl to Woman organisation teams are initiating a new era for Girl to Woman from 2019 onwards, and this means for now a conclusion of our unique Festival. 

So we would like to take a moment to celebrate YOU and all the magic you brought to make G2W what it was. It was a Festival like no other. 

And wow did we know how to have fun.

We danced, we laughed, we hair-braided! We beaded with the elders, we sung out loud, we connected across generations, we made slime, (heaps of it!), we shared moments we will never forget. 

Most of all we celebrated each other, and what life can truly look like when we all come together to honour, cherish and adore the girls and women in our lives for who they naturally are.

Girl to Woman would love to document all that was, so we invite those of you who have been to the festival or at our markets stalls to write to us about your experiences – the gorgeous moments, the transformations and the highlights. Simply reply to this email if you feel to share.

The Festival may no longer be, but The Girl to Woman inspired initiative will remain as strong as ever in the hearts and lives of the people who were involved in all it had to offer.

Girl to Woman remains alive in us all, in how we are with our young girls, how we support them and foster the precious innate gorgeous qualities they hold within, knowing that this is who they are, so they have the confidence to live it. 

To the many of you who connected to all the Festival offered and returned year after year to appreciate and participate in a day that focussed on the well-being of young women in our lives, we say thank-you. 

It has been a spectacular 4 years. 

With Love,
​The Girl to Woman Team.

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November 13th 2018

A whole community response to the issues facing young women

For the past five years volunteers from across Australia have collaborated to create a unique festival that inspires and celebrates girls and women of all ages.

The Girl To Woman Festival supports girls and women to feel deeply appreciated by their whole community, well before they are confronted with the kinds of abuse they might encounter online or in their relationships.

The ethos of the Girl to Woman Festival is simple. “Appreciating and confirming our self-worth as women becomes the foundation from which we can flourish in a world in which inequality is a daily reality,” said Festival Director Natalie Benhayon.

“The true empowerment of women is a state of being and not based on their achievements.” 

The festival provides simple activities for girls and women to connect without competition or pressure. 

The Girl To Woman Festival supports young women to explore their own expression and enjoy a day that places no expectation or ideals upon them.
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Now in its 5th year running, The Girl To Woman Festival is delighted to be able to continue to expand its offerings to support the wellbeing of girls, young women and their families in 2019. 

In January The Girl To Woman Festival will bring a host of activities and discussion groups to the Northern Rivers Community including talks on Social Media, Body Image, Confidence, Anxiety & Perfectionism and more.

Arts and crafts, the fun science stand, slime making, beading, food making workshops, singing and expression groups and the true beauty tent with hair braiding and make-up play will again feature as part of the ‘Town Square’ style activities offered all day.

Discussion groups throughout the event will be tailored to all ages to allow for in-depth community conversations about the very real issues facing young girls and women.

This is a platform for the entire community to come together to discuss the issues facing young women while celebrating all that girls and women bring to our lives. It is open to women, men, girls and boys.

Esoteric Women’s Health hosts the event in collaboration with many professionals and businesses Australia-wide who are also interested in giving back to community.

Our full 2019 Program will be posted soon.
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November 13th 2018

In regards to the continued harassment on social media of The Girl To Woman Festival – a statement from the Festival organisers:
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We are aware that there has been false information circulating online, including in the form of a petition, about the nature of this event and its purpose. 

This is inciting a lynch mob mentality on social media that if continued presents a danger to women and children organising the event. 

In one instance a male who saw pictures of a local market stall promoting the G2W festival on social media, threatened to come down to the market and ‘make a scene’. He was encouraged to do so by the owner of the Facebook page who responded by saying that the markets are ‘open to 3pm.’

On the same day, a man was spotted taking photos of the G2W stall including photographing minors without their consent.
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In another comment a man on social media wrote, “What a pity that tarring and feathering and then running the grifters out of town, is no longer in use.” Tarring and feathering is a method of humiliation and torture most commonly associated in our recent history with the actions of the KKK. The man’s profile reveals that he has no visible friends or timeline history, suggesting his account is set up purely for nefarious purposes.

We are aware that the Festival is being attacked on the grounds of a jury’s findings regarding a civil defamation action taken out by Serge Benhayon, founder of Universal Medicine, in relation to prolific blogging about him and his organisation.

The Girl To Woman Festival is not in the position to comment about a court case that is still officially in process.

Needless to say, we abhor attacks on people purely based on their association with any organisation, in much the same way we would not tolerate attacks on Catholics or Buddhists on the basis of their belief or association.

The Girl To Woman Festival is primarily run by Esoteric Women’s Health, an organisation founded and directed by Natalie Benhayon. Esoteric Women’s Health openly cites Universal Medicine’s extensive teachings on health and wellbeing as a foundational inspiration, yet it remains the case that Universal Medicine is not the organiser of The Girl To Woman Festival.

One of the ‘criticisms’ circulating on social media is that the Festival does not disclose its affiliation with Universal Medicine in its marketing material. As Universal Medicine is not an organiser nor is it a sponsor of The Girl To Woman Festival, it would not make sense for Universal Medicine to have mention on our flyers or promotional material.

In a criticism that appears to directly contradict the fact that The Girl To Woman Festival does not promote Universal Medicine in its marketing material is the erroneous assertion that The Girl To Woman Festival is used to ‘recruit new students to Universal Medicine’.

To be clear, there is no such thing as ‘recruitment’ to Universal Medicine – free will and people’s right to choose their way of life, their healing practices and their philosophy are paramount and essential in a democratic society and this is central to Universal Medicine’s ethos.

There are many business people, families and elderly people who volunteer their services to make the Girl to Woman Festival happen. Many of these people are also students of Universal Medicine. That the Festival is being attacked on social media on the basis that its volunteers are Universal Medicine Students is akin to a Fete or Festival being attacked on the basis that volunteers are Catholic or Buddhist.

In fact, where a religious organisation has an actual track record of criminally proven sexual abuse of children en masse, fetes and local fairs supported by volunteers associated with these organisations have not been targeted with the virulence that the Girl to Woman Festival has experienced.
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When we step back and consider this, what is the bigotry and the drummed up moral panic on social media actually about? And what is at stake if it pulls focus from the very pertinent conversations we need to be having about girls and women’s wellbeing right now?