Type Arts and education Headquarters King's Cross, London | Legal status Registered charity | |
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Motto Putting poetry on a platform Formation 1998 (as a project of the Poetry Society); an independent charity since 2006 Purpose Creating new audiences for poetry through an eclectic programme of events, commissions and education work | ||
Poet in the City is a prominent London-based poetry charity, specialising in large-scale live events aimed at new audiences for poetry. Founded in 1998 as a project of the Poetry Society, it became an independent charity in 2006. Open to anyone, and free to join, it has a current membership of over 4,000 people and runs about 50 poetry events a year, mainly in central London, including about 12 events a year at Kings Place, an arts venue situated just north of King’s Cross station. They work with leading UK and international poets, celebrated actors and experts from across the arts and wider social sectors to present poetry in a new way.
Contents
- History
- Governance
- Events
- Working with partners to promote poetry to new audiences
- Spoken Word All Stars
- Through The Door
- Public art
- Patrons and poet in residence
- Sponsors Friends and volunteers
- Schools work
- Poet in the City Producers
- International perspective
- Rimbaud and Verlaine house
- References
Providing a dynamic platform to contemporary poets, curate imaginative and exciting themed events and bring classic poetry to life for a 21st-century audience, through their work, Poet in the City have fostered a genuine and growing appetite for accessible, challenging and inspiring poetry performances. Poet in the City has a thriving volunteer community and also works regularly with young people through education and employability schemes
In April 2011, Poet in the City was offered National Portfolio Funding by Arts Council England, meaning that it is receiving regular funding for a period of four years from 2012.
History
Poet in the City was founded in 1998 as a project of the Poetry Society, by Rosamund McCarthy, a lawyer at Bates Wells Braithwaite. It involved a number of City of London-based organisations, mainly law firms, in an annual fund-raising effort. Monies raised were used to deliver schools visits, placing poets in the classroom, and encouraging pupils to read and write poetry. Early successes included a John Donne event at the Chapter House of St Paul's Cathedral and an open-air event on the steps of the Royal Exchange on National Poetry Day.
Governance
Poet in the City is managed by a board of trustees chaired by Renato Labi. Its Chief Executive is Isobel Colchester. She succeeded Graham Henderson, who was in post from July 2003 until March 2014.
Events
Poet in the City holds monthly participatory drop-in events at Waterstones Piccadilly, where members of the charity’s audience are invited to read their favourite poems (or their own poems) on a certain theme, and about 50 major poetry events every year in and around central London. Since 2008 it has held about a dozen events per year at Kings Place, the arts venue just north of King’s Cross. The organisation’s events have included "Courtly Love" – poetry from the palaces of the Maharajahs, events with Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, celebrations of "late great poets" including John Keats, Hafez, Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, and foreign language poetry events. Every year Poet in the City launches National Poetry Day with a poetry power breakfast held in the City of London.
Working with partners to promote poetry to new audiences
In order to reach out effectively to new audiences for poetry, Poet in the City works with many partners in the literature sector and beyond. These include the Royal Society of Literature, Jewish Book Week, the Poetry Book Society, Modern Poetry in Translation, the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, Christie's, Amnesty International, the City of London Festival and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Many of the charity’s supporters have come to it through these connections. The charity also regularly works with literary societies such as the Browning Society and Keats House.
Poet in the City's New Audiences initiative, managed by a committee of the under-25s, specialises in providing platforms for some very contemporary poets, and connecting them with wider audiences. The charity has held programmes of events in partnership with several London-based universities including LSE, Imperial College, University College London, University of Roehampton and Goldsmiths.
Spoken Word All Stars
In 2010 Poet in the City produced its first national poetry tour, delivered in partnership with Apples and Snakes. Taking half a dozen of the UK’s most accomplished spoken word artists, Kat Francois, Kate Tempest, El Crisis, OneNess and Chris Redmond (ventriloquist), accompanied by the jazz saxophonist Jason Yarde, the charity produced a new show designed to promote them and their work to new audiences all over the UK. Launched at Latitude in July 2010, the show appeared at a number of top venues all over the country during 2010 and 2011, including the Bluecoat in Liverpool, Contact in Manchester, Kings Place in London, MAC in Birmingham, Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham, the Pierhead Building in Cardiff, Theatre in the Mill in Bradford, and as part of the Bristol Spring Poetry Festival at the Arnolfini. The Tour was also the subject of a Sky Arts documentary.
Through The Door
Through the Door, a project from Archives for London and Poet in the City, aimed to engage new audiences for poetry, archives and local history. Seven leading UK poets, including Sir Andrew Motion and David Harsent, were commissioned to write new poems inspired by stories and documents from within seven London archives. Subjects as diverse as St Paul's Cathedral’s damage during the London blitz and the diary of a gravedigger at the Royal College of Surgeons led to new poetry and the re-discovery of relatedarchive materials.
An anthology collection of all the poetry written as part of the project was published. Each poet returned to their respective archives for special public readings in autumn 2014, providing an opportunity for local communities to engage with their archives, and hear the poetry performed live for the first time.
Public art
Building on its extensive work in this area since 2008, the charity now runs a professional public art practice, working with architects, planners, landscape artists and local authorities. This work is resulting in some exciting new commissions in the built environment.
In 2015 Poet in the City, in partnership with Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council, created Pope’s Urn, a new sculpture forming part of the landscaping of Champion's Wharf on the Twickenham riverside. Celebrating the fact that Twickenham would be hosting the Rugby World Cup that year, Poet in the City has been worked with the Council to see how public art, inspired by poetry, might be used to enhance the town.
The new urn was designed by award-winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios to celebrate Alexander Pope (1688–1744), one of England’s greatest poets and Twickenham’s most famous resident. It is based on an urn (since destroyed) which Pope himself designed for the garden of his friend at Hagley in the English Midlands. Intimately connected with the history and identity of Twickenham, the urn represents an exciting and innovative approach to the design and commissioning of public art.
Standing just over eight-foot high, this stylish contemporary sculpture mirrors the shape of the original urn, and is a reminder of the poet’s great contributions to gardens and landscape design. The urn sculpture is made out of corten steel, which blends in with the red-brick backdrop of the site. It is accompanied by some of Pope’s most famous quotes, carved into new curved wood seating and timber benches connecting new generations with his legacy.
As well as the sculpture and seating, the landscaping of Champion’s Wharf includes new granite paving, new trees and flower beds and a perennial flowering meadow, overlooking the River Thames.
Patrons and poet in residence
Poet in the City has five patrons, the poets Andrew Motion, Jo Shapcott and Wendy Cope, the actor Juliet Stevenson and the lawyer and human rights campaigner Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. It also has a poet in residence, John Mole.
Sponsors, Friends and volunteers
Poet in the City is supported by a panel of corporate organisations that provide in-kind support and ad-hoc sponsorship, and it operates a Friends’ scheme whereby individuals can support its work. It has over 150 active volunteers who are involved in a range of activities from event management to marketing, film production to blogging and front of house.
Schools work
Poet in the City has funded about 120 placements in primary and secondary schools. These have included specialised programmes designed to raise awareness of issues such as mental health, the natural environment and knife crime. The placements mainly take the form of 3–5 day visits by poet educators, designed to encourage pupils to read and write poetry. In delivering these programmes the charity has worked in partnership with a number of other organisations, notably the Poetry Society, Samaritans, Lapidus and Learning Through the Arts. It has delivered schools programmes in Maria Fidelis School in Camden, one with the Spoken Word All Stars, and the other with the Cuban poet Milena Rodriguez.
In 2014 Poet in the City held a series of education workshops as part of a project with Archives for London called "Through the Door". Seven leading UK poets – Andrew Motion, David Harsent, Mario Petrucci, Simon Jenner, George Szirtes, Fiona Sampson and Imtiaz Dharker – were placed into London archives, resulting in newly commissioned poetry, live events and schools workshops.
Educational work remains a strong commitment for the charity.
Poet in the City Producers
In 2015 Poet in the City launched a new youth engagement scheme, Poet in the City Producers. This provides young people with an opportunity to gain valuable experience in the arts, eventually curating their own poetry events under Poet in the City's umbrella.
International perspective
About 20 per cent of Poet in the City events feature poets or poetry from around the world and the charity is committed to celebrating the great poetry cultures of the world. Current international partners include the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Instituto Cervantes, and the Casa Fernando Pessoa. In 2009, thanks to a sponsorship from HSBC Bank, Poet in the City took Akerke Mussabekova, a young Kazakh poet, to Canada for a six-month residency, courtesy of the Vancouver Literary Festival and the Joy Kogawa House. In 2009–10, with the support of the British Council, the charity delivered Words Converge, a text-based art installation created by Text/Gallery. The art work was displayed in the main atrium at Kings Place during the Kings Place Festival and later had separate emanations in Israel, Georgia and Romania.
Rimbaud and Verlaine house
Poet in the City inherited a campaign to create an Anglo-French cultural centre at 8 Royal College Street in Camden, the house occupied by the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine when they lived in London in 1873. It played a leading role in the setting up of a new charity, the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation, to take this initiative forward.