Poet in the City
Encyclopedia
Poet in the City is a prominent London-based poetry charity, specializing in large-scale live events aimed at new audiences for poetry. Founded in 1999 by Rosamund McCarthy 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 25 poetry events a year, mainly in central London, including about 12 events a year at Kings Place
, a new arts venue situated just north of King’s Cross station. The charity has been run since 2003 by its Chief Executive, Graham Henderson. Poet in the City has an original funding model. Keeping its core costs very low by means of in kind sponsorships and the use of new technology, the charity also benefits from the support of over 125 active volunteers. In April 2011, Poet in the City was offered National Portfolio Funding by Arts Council England, meaning that it will receive regular funding for a period of four years from 2012. This represents a significant endorsement at a time when financial support for the Arts is threatened due to the national "cuts" agenda.
The Spoken Word All Stars, a national poetry tour delivered in partnership with Apples & Snakes, was launched at Latitude
in July 2010 and is appearing at ten venues nationwide. It was also the subject of a Sky Arts
documentary.
and News International
. Early successes included a John Donne event at the Chapter House of St Paul’s
and an open-air event on the steps of the Royal Exchange on National Poetry Day.
charity, building a bridge between the worlds of business and the world of the arts. It has developed a streamlined funding model in which most of the funds it raises are used to support its artistic outputs. It keeps its core costs low by a mixture of in kind sponsorships, volunteer support and a smart use of new technology. For the last seven years the charity has been hosted at a series of City-based organizations, meaning that its office costs have been kept to a minimum. During that period it has also benefited from a series of in kind sponsorships, including support from designers like Sherry Designs, printers like Purbrooks and Axon Publishing, and even wine sponsors like Wines from Spain and Freixenet
.
, the new arts venue just north of King’s Cross, also home to Guardian News and Media (including the Guardian
, Guardian Online and the Observer
). The organisation’s events in 2010 included events with Carol Ann Duffy
, the poet laureate, and Seamus Heaney
, winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature), celebrations of ‘late great poets’ including John Keats
, Hafez
, Thomas Hardy
, Elizabeth Bishop
and Robert Lowell
, and important foreign language poetry events including Mexican Poetry, Courtly Love
– poetry from the palaces of the Maharajahs, and Contemporary Lusophone Poets. Every year Poet in the City launches National Poetry Day with a poetry power breakfast held in the City of London, which in 2010 featured the poet Jo Shapcott
reading her own poems. For details of current events visit the Poet in the City events page
, Imperial College, University College London
, Roehampton
and Goldsmiths.
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 is appearing 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 in Cardiff, Theatre in the Mill in Bradford, and as part of the Bristol Spring Poetry Festival at the Arnolfini
. The Tour is also the subject of a Sky Arts documentary.
, the poet laureate, Seamus Heaney
, Wendy Cope
, Jo Shapcott
, Andrew Motion
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
, David Harsent
, Jackie Kay
, Joanne Limburg, Lachlan Mackinnon
, Elaine Feinstein
, Blake Morrison
, Patience Agbabi
, Tobias Hill
, Nick Laird
, Michael Symmons Roberts
, Lavinia Greenlaw
and many others. It also works regularly with some of the best known performance poets and spoken word artists including John Hegley
, Michael Horovitz
, Brian Patten
, Roger Robinson
, AF Harrold, Aoife Mannix, Daljit Nagra
and many others.
and the lawyer and human rights campaigner Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. It also has a poet in residence, John Mole
, who hosts the charity’s regular participatory events (known as drop-ins), where members of the charity’s audience are invited to read their favorite poems (or their own poems) on a certain theme. Appointed whilst Poet in the City was still part of the Poetry Society, John Mole has now been the official poet in residence for the City of London for over a decade.
, the charity has increasingly seen itself as a civil society or social capital building project, allowing people from many different backgrounds and origins to come together as a new online community.
, Twitter
and Youtube
. With the help of an in kind sponsorship from Four Communications the charity will, in 2011, be launching a social media campaign designed to spread the word about poets and poetry to new people via social media. Influenced by recent technological developments Poet in the City has declared its intention to be a value-led online community.
, BT
, News International
, Lloyds TSB
, Pfizer
, Wellcome Trust
, Linklaters
, HSBC Bank
, Lloyd’s of London, Argent Plc and the Spanish law firm Gomez-Acebo & Pombo. Its high profile events have proved attractive to sponsors, as has its commitment to schools work, and have seen new funding flow into the promotion of poetry and poetry education.
, Jewish Book Week, the Poetry Book Society
and Modern Poetry in Translation. Examples of the latter include 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. Example have included the Society for the preservation of Milton
’s cottage, the Blake Society, the Auden Society, the Browning Society
, Keats House and the Persian Poetry Group.
, Samaritans, Lapidus
and Learning Through the Arts. It recently delivered two schools programmes in Maria Fidelis School in Camden, one with the Spoken Word All Stars, and the other with the Cuban Poet Milena Rodriguez. Educational work remains a strong commitment for the charity.
, 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
.
and Paul Verlaine
, during their celebrated and stormy sojourn in London in 1873. A campaign was run over many years by Gerry Harrison, a Camden Councillor, to save the house, during the process of which many celebrities have rallied to the cause, including the actor Simon Callow
, the writer Tracy Chevalier
and the Rock star Patti Smith
. In 2007 the house was bought and fully restored by a new owner who is a good friend of Poet in the City. The owner has agreed to give the house for use as an Anglo-French cultural centre. Poet in the City, with the support of the Fondation L-A Finances pour la Poésie in Paris and the law firm Herbert Smith
, is currently seeking to raise money for a maintenance fund, allowing for the creation of a ‘poetry house’ at No. 8 Royal College Street.
.
, his career has spanned both the City and the arts. From 2000-2001 he was responsible for creating and marketing specialist dance and music activity holidays for Dance Holidays Ltd and WOMAD. In 2003 he produced Coach of Black Water, an exhibition of Cuban art photographs, which took place at the Menier Gallery in Southwark. In 2004 he launched The Company of Adventurers Ltd in an attempt to raise funding for independent arts and cultural documentary films. In 2005 he was responsible for arranging the translation and publication of Kindred Spirits
, a collected edition of poems by the great Cuban poet Regino E Boti, known as 'the poet of Guantanamo', which was published by Mango Publications. In 2010 he was elected as a member of the Culture Forum, consisting of representatives from twenty six leading arts organizations, and supported by Arts & Business
and the National Campaign for the Arts
.
Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...
, 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 25 poetry events a year, mainly in central London, including about 12 events a year at Kings Place
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
, a new arts venue situated just north of King’s Cross station. The charity has been run since 2003 by its Chief Executive, Graham Henderson. Poet in the City has an original funding model. Keeping its core costs very low by means of in kind sponsorships and the use of new technology, the charity also benefits from the support of over 125 active volunteers. In April 2011, Poet in the City was offered National Portfolio Funding by Arts Council England, meaning that it will receive regular funding for a period of four years from 2012. This represents a significant endorsement at a time when financial support for the Arts is threatened due to the national "cuts" agenda.
The Spoken Word All Stars, a national poetry tour delivered in partnership with Apples & Snakes, was launched at Latitude
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....
in July 2010 and is appearing at ten venues nationwide. It was also the subject of a Sky Arts
Sky Arts
Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music...
documentary.
City roots
Founded in 1999 by Rosamund McCarthy, a lawyer at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite LLP, Poet in the City started life as a fund-raising project for another poetry charity, and involved a number of city-based organizations, 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. A number of organizations have been actively involved with the charity over the years including Dechert LLP, PenningtonsPenningtons
Penningtons is a Canadian store that specializes in "plus-size" womens' clothing, with locations across Canada in all ten provinces. Penningtons is part of the Reitmans Limited Company, also affiliated with RW&CO, Cassis, Addition Elle, Thyme Maternity and Smart Set. There are over 950 stores...
and News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
. Early successes included a John Donne event at the Chapter House of St Paul’s
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
and an open-air event on the steps of the Royal Exchange on National Poetry Day.
A new kind of poetry charity
Poet in the City is a venture philanthropyVenture philanthropy
Venture philanthropy, also known as philanthrocapitalism, takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and high technology business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals.Venture philanthropy is characterized by:...
charity, building a bridge between the worlds of business and the world of the arts. It has developed a streamlined funding model in which most of the funds it raises are used to support its artistic outputs. It keeps its core costs low by a mixture of in kind sponsorships, volunteer support and a smart use of new technology. For the last seven years the charity has been hosted at a series of City-based organizations, meaning that its office costs have been kept to a minimum. During that period it has also benefited from a series of in kind sponsorships, including support from designers like Sherry Designs, printers like Purbrooks and Axon Publishing, and even wine sponsors like Wines from Spain and Freixenet
Freixenet
Freixenet is a Cava producer in Spain, located west of Barcelona in Catalonia. Cava is a sparkling wine produced in Spain.Freixenet was started after the union of two Spanish families with a lengthy history in winemaking: the Ferrers, owners of La Freixeneda, a 12th-century farming estate in Sant...
.
Events
The charity holds about twenty five major poetry events every year in and around central London. Since October 2008 it has held about a dozen events per year at Kings PlaceKings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
, the new arts venue just north of King’s Cross, also home to Guardian News and Media (including the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Guardian Online and the Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
). The organisation’s events in 2010 included events with Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
, the poet laureate, and Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
, winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature), celebrations of ‘late great poets’ including John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, Hafez
Hafez
Khwāja Shamsu d-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī , known by his pen name Hāfez , was a Persian lyric poet. His collected works composed of series of Persian poetry are to be found in the homes of most Iranians, who learn his poems by heart and use them as proverbs and sayings to this day...
, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956 and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia...
and Robert Lowell
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
, and important foreign language poetry events including Mexican Poetry, Courtly Love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
– poetry from the palaces of the Maharajahs, and Contemporary Lusophone Poets. Every year Poet in the City launches National Poetry Day with a poetry power breakfast held in the City of London, which in 2010 featured the poet Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott FRSL, is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Award.-Career:...
reading her own poems. For details of current events visit the Poet in the City events page
New Audiences
Poet in the City specializes in promoting poetry to new audiences. An average of 25% of its audiences are attending their first ever poetry event. An average of 74% give its events top marks of 5 out of 5, and 83% say that the charity’s events have encouraged a greater interest in poetry. An average of 64% of the audience members are not on the charity’s mailing list, and have heard of its events from another source, usually through a partner organization, from a friend, or otherwise by word of mouth. The charity is introducing upwards of 3,000 people a year to a new interest in poetry as an art form. Building on this success, the charity’s New Audiences initiative, managed by a committee of the under-25s, specializes in providing platforms for some very contemporary poets, and connecting them with wider audiences. In the process the charity has held programmes of events in partnership with several London-based universities including LSELondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Imperial College, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Roehampton
Roehampton
Roehampton is a district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north, Putney to the east and Wimbledon Common to the south. The Richmond Park golf courses are west of the neighbourhood, and just south of these is...
and Goldsmiths.
Spoken Word All Stars
In 2010 Poet in the City produced its first national poetry tour, delivered in partnership with Apples & Snakes. Taking half a dozen of the UK’s most accomplished spoken word artists, Kat Francois, Kate Tempest, El Crisis, OnenessOneness
Oneness may refer to:* Divine simplicity, the belief that God is without parts* Oneness , a 1979 rock album* Oneness , a mathematical concept* Oneness , a concept in philosophy...
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
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....
in July 2010, the show is appearing at a number of top venues all over the country during 2010 and 2011, including the Bluecoat
Bluecoat Chambers
The Bluecoat is an arts centre in School Lane, Liverpool, Merseyside, England and claims to be the oldest arts centre in Great Britain. It is a Grade I listed building and is meant to be the oldest surviving building in central Liverpool The Bluecoat is an arts centre in School Lane, Liverpool,...
in Liverpool, Contact
Contact Theatre
-Contact:Contact is a multi-disciplinary arts venue in Manchester. Originally a traditional theatre Contact was rebranded in 1999 as a space specialising in producing work and providing opportunities for young people.-History:...
in Manchester, Kings Place
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
in London, MAC
Mac (Birmingham)
mac is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which host plays, concerts and films shows; and holds art exhibitions, music classes, and workshops for all ages.The centre re-opened...
in Birmingham, Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham, the Pierhead in Cardiff, Theatre in the Mill in Bradford, and as part of the Bristol Spring Poetry Festival at the Arnolfini
Arnolfini
The Arnolfini is an arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, live art, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a specialist art bookshop and a café bar. Educational activities are undertaken...
. The Tour is also the subject of a Sky Arts documentary.
Favorite poets
Poet in the City works with many of the UK’s best known poets. These have included Carol Ann DuffyCarol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
, the poet laureate, Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
, Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope, OBE is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.-Biography:...
, Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott FRSL, is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Award.-Career:...
, Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
, Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson is a UK-based dub poet. He became the second living poet, and the only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British...
, David Harsent
David Harsent
David Harsent is an English poet & TV scriptwriter. As Jack Curtis and David Lawrence he has published a number of crime fiction novels....
, Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay MBE is a Scottish poet and novelist.-Biography:Jackie Kay was born in Glasgow in 1961 to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father, Jonathan C. Okafor who later became a prominent tropical plant taxonomist...
, Joanne Limburg, Lachlan Mackinnon
Lachlan Mackinnon
Lachlan Mackinnon is a contemporary Scottish poet, critic and literary journalist. He was born in Aberdeen and educated at Charterhouse and Oxford. He recently took early retirement from his job as a teacher of English at Winchester College and moved to Ely with his partner, the poet Wendy Cope...
, Elaine Feinstein
Elaine Feinstein
Elaine Feinstein is a poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator.-Biography:...
, Blake Morrison
Blake Morrison
Philip Blake Morrison is a British poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. He has also written a...
, Patience Agbabi
Patience Agbabi
Patience Agbabi is a British poet and performer with a particular emphasis on the spoken word. Although her poetry is hard-hitting in addressing contemporary themes, her work often makes use of strong formal constraints, including traditional poetic forms...
, Tobias Hill
Tobias Hill
Tobias Hill is an award-winning British poet, essayist, writer of short stories and novelist.-Life:Tobias Hill was born in Kentish Town, in North London, to parents of German Jewish and English extraction: his maternal grandfather was the brother of Gottfried Bermann, confidant of Thomas Mann and,...
, Nick Laird
Nick Laird
Nicholas 'Nick' Laird is a novelist and poet who was born, and grew up, in Cookstown, County Tyrone. He studied at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he attained a first in English. He went on to work at the global law firm Allen & Overy in London for six years, before leaving to concentrate...
, Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts is a British poet. He has published five collections of poetry, all with Cape , and has won the Whitbread Poetry Award, as well as major prizes from the Arts Council and Society of Authors. He has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize twice, the Griffin International...
, Lavinia Greenlaw
Lavinia Greenlaw
-Biography:Greenlaw was born in London into a family of doctors and scientists, but spent much of her childhood in a small village in Essex. She began her working life in publishing and arts administration before embarking upon a career as a freelance artist, critic and radio broadcaster. She lives...
and many others. It also works regularly with some of the best known performance poets and spoken word artists including John Hegley
John Hegley
John Richard Hegley is an English performance poet, comedian, musician and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in the Newington Green area of Islington, London, England, into a Roman Catholic household. He was brought up in Luton and Bristol...
, Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz
Michael Horovitz is an English poet, artist and translator.-Life and career:Michael Horovitz was the youngest of ten children who were brought to England from Nazi Germany by their parents, both of whom were part of a network of European-rabbinical families...
, Brian Patten
Brian Patten
-Background:Born near Liverpool's docks, he attended Sefton Park School in the Smithdown Road area of Liverpool, where he was noted for his essays and greatly encouraged in his work by Harry Sutcliffe his form teacher. He left school at fifteen and began work for The Bootle Times writing a column...
, Roger Robinson
Roger Robinson
Roger Robinson was an American football running back who was signed by the Arizona Cardinals and allocated to NFL Europe in 2006....
, AF Harrold, Aoife Mannix, Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra is a British poet whose debut collection, Look We Have Coming to Dover! — a title alluding to W. H. Auden's Look, Stranger!, D. H. Lawrence's Look! We have come through! and by epigraph also to Matthew Arnold's 'Dover Beach' — was published by Faber in February 2007...
and many others.
Patrons and poet in residence
Poet in the City has two patrons, the poet Wendy CopeWendy Cope
Wendy Cope, OBE is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.-Biography:...
and the lawyer and human rights campaigner Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. It also has a poet in residence, John Mole
John Mole (poet)
John Mole is a British poet and jazz clarinettist.He has won several prizes for his poetry including an Eric Gregory Award, the Cholmondeley Award, and the Signal Award for children's poetry. He is Writer in Residence at Magdalene College, Cambridge and Poet in Residence to the Poets Society in...
, who hosts the charity’s regular participatory events (known as drop-ins), where members of the charity’s audience are invited to read their favorite poems (or their own poems) on a certain theme. Appointed whilst Poet in the City was still part of the Poetry Society, John Mole has now been the official poet in residence for the City of London for over a decade.
Volunteers
The charity relies heavily on the support of about 125 active volunteers, who get involved in everything from event management, commissioning, administration and evaluation, press and public relations, schools work, and web and audio recording and editing. Volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some are recent graduates wanting to get some experience working with an arts organization. Some are people looking for a change or career into the arts or event management. Some are retired or unwaged people interested in meeting like-minded people. Some are City workers who help the charity in their evenings and spare time. All are passionate about poetry and committed to the charity’s goal of promoting poets and their work to new audiences. Influenced heavily by Robert Puttnam and his book Bowling AloneBowling Alone
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a book by Robert D. Putnam. It was originally a 1995 essay entitled Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital.-Summary:...
, the charity has increasingly seen itself as a civil society or social capital building project, allowing people from many different backgrounds and origins to come together as a new online community.
Social media
Poet in the City has a loyal membership of about 4,000 people. The charity already communicates with its membership mainly by email and E-Flyer, but is beginning to do so via social media platforms as well, especially FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. With the help of an in kind sponsorship from Four Communications the charity will, in 2011, be launching a social media campaign designed to spread the word about poets and poetry to new people via social media. Influenced by recent technological developments Poet in the City has declared its intention to be a value-led online community.
Sponsors
Poet in the City has worked with a large number of prominent sponsors including PearsonPearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
, BT
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
, News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
, Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
, Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
, Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
, Linklaters
Linklaters
Linklaters LLP is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a member of the 'Magic Circle' of leading UK law firms. Linklaters is the world's fourth largest global law firm by revenue. In 2009/10 it received total revenues of £1.18 billion and profits per equity partner of £1.2...
, HSBC Bank
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, Lloyd’s of London, Argent Plc and the Spanish law firm Gomez-Acebo & Pombo. Its high profile events have proved attractive to sponsors, as has its commitment to schools work, and have seen new funding flow into the promotion of poetry and poetry education.
Partners
In order to reach out effectively to new audiences for poetry, Poet in the City works with a great many partners both in the literature sector and beyond. Examples of the former include the Royal Society of LiteratureRoyal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
, Jewish Book Week, the Poetry Book Society
Poetry Book Society
The Poetry Book Society was founded by T. S. Eliot and friends in 1953. Each quarter the Society selects one recently published collection of poetry for its members. The Society also publishes the quarterly poetry journal Bulletin, and it administers the competition for the annual T. S. Eliot Prize...
and Modern Poetry in Translation. Examples of the latter include the National Portrait Gallery, the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
, Christie’s, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, the City of London Festival
City of London Festival
The City of London Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place in the City of London, England, over two to three weeks in June and July. The Festival is strongly geared towards classical music, but also offers a programme that includes jazz, world music, opera, film screenings, lectures...
and the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom responsible for representing psychiatrists, psychiatric research and providing public information about mental health problems...
. Many of the charity’s supporters have come to it through these connections. The charity also regularly works with literary societies. Example have included the Society for the preservation of Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
’s cottage, the Blake Society, the Auden Society, the Browning Society
Browning Society
Browning societies were groups of people who met regularly to discuss the works of Robert Browning. Emerging from various reading groups, the societies were an indication of the poet's fame and, unusually, were actively forming during his lifetime...
, Keats House and the Persian Poetry Group.
Schools work
Since it was founded in 1999 Poet in the City has delivered over 125 schools placements in schools all over the UK. These have included programmes in primary and secondary schools, and specialized 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 organizations, notably the Poetry SocietyPoetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...
, Samaritans, Lapidus
Lapidus
Lapidus is a surname rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, specifically from "Lapidoth", which was borne, in the Bible, by the husband of Deborah, and hence probably derived from lapidot, the Hebrew word for torches, yet is not exclusive to one religion or nationality...
and Learning Through the Arts. It recently delivered two schools programmes in Maria Fidelis School in Camden, one with the Spoken Word All Stars, and the other with the Cuban Poet Milena Rodriguez. Educational work remains a strong commitment for the charity.
International perspective
About 20% 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 InstituteRomanian Cultural Institute
The Romanian Cultural Institute is a state-funded institution that promotes Romanian culture and civilization in Romania and abroad. The ICR was formerly set up through reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and Romanian Cultural Publishing Foundation...
, the Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes
The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes , the author of Don Quixote and perhaps the most important figure in the history of Spanish literature...
, and the Casa Fernando Pessoa
Casa Fernando Pessoa
Casa Fernando Pessoa is a cultural space opened on November 30, 1993, created in honor of the poet, and conceived as "home of poetry." It is located in Campo de Ourique, in the building where Fernando Pessoa lived between 1920 and 1935, and its last address....
. 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
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
, 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
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space, a home for The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and the headquarters of Network Rail...
during the Kings Place Festival and later had separate emanations in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
Rimbaud and Verlaine house
Poet in the City has inherited a campaign to create an Anglo-French cultural centre at No. 8 Royal College Street in Camden, the house formerly occupied by the French poets Arthur RimbaudArthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
and Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
, during their celebrated and stormy sojourn in London in 1873. A campaign was run over many years by Gerry Harrison, a Camden Councillor, to save the house, during the process of which many celebrities have rallied to the cause, including the actor Simon Callow
Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...
, the writer Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier is a bestselling historical novelist. She lives in London with her husband and son.Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.C and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland. After receiving her B.A...
and the Rock star Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
. In 2007 the house was bought and fully restored by a new owner who is a good friend of Poet in the City. The owner has agreed to give the house for use as an Anglo-French cultural centre. Poet in the City, with the support of the Fondation L-A Finances pour la Poésie in Paris and the law firm Herbert Smith
Herbert Smith
Herbert Smith LLP is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm has offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and today has 240 partners and 1,300 fee-earners.-History:The firm was...
, is currently seeking to raise money for a maintenance fund, allowing for the creation of a ‘poetry house’ at No. 8 Royal College Street.
Design and printing
Poet in the City is well known for its high quality glossy marketing materials. These have played an important part in raising awareness of the charity and its events, and in particular in reaching out to new audiences for poetry. In the process the charity has sought to challenge the grungy and minority interest image sometimes associated with poetry, and to re-establish it in its rightful place as one of the great art forms. In this process the charity has received generous support from its designers and printers. These have included The Formation, Sherry Design, Purbrooks and Axon Publishers. Poet in the City invitations are regarded almost as collectors’ items, and are being retained and cherished, by many of the charity’s regular supporters. As emails, E-Flyers and social media play an ever-greater role in communicating with audiences it is hoped that the hard copy invitations will still have a part to play in winning over the all-important new audiences who have not previously regarded themselves as poetry lovers.Friends
In 2007 Poet in the City launched its Friends’ scheme with an event at Imperial College. The scheme provides a way in which supporters can provide donations to the charity. In return for a donation of £60 or more per annum to support the work of the charity the Friends get benefits such as a summer garden party, a winter drinks party, a newsletter, and a Friends’ badge. In 2010 the winter drinks reception took place at Betjeman’s wine bar in Smithfields, and the summer garden party took place at Keats’ House in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
.
Graham Henderson
Poet in the City has been run since July 2003 by Graham Henderson. A former City solicitor, who trained and qualified at Clifford ChanceClifford Chance
Clifford Chance LLP is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and a member of the 'Magic Circle' of leading UK law firms. It is one of the ten largest law firms in the world measured by both number of lawyers and revenue...
, his career has spanned both the City and the arts. From 2000-2001 he was responsible for creating and marketing specialist dance and music activity holidays for Dance Holidays Ltd and WOMAD. In 2003 he produced Coach of Black Water, an exhibition of Cuban art photographs, which took place at the Menier Gallery in Southwark. In 2004 he launched The Company of Adventurers Ltd in an attempt to raise funding for independent arts and cultural documentary films. In 2005 he was responsible for arranging the translation and publication of Kindred Spirits
Kindred Spirits
Kindred Spirits is a painting by the Hudson River School painter Asher Durand. It depicts the previously deceased painter Thomas Cole and his friend poet William Cullen Bryant in the Catskill Mountains...
, a collected edition of poems by the great Cuban poet Regino E Boti, known as 'the poet of Guantanamo', which was published by Mango Publications. In 2010 he was elected as a member of the Culture Forum, consisting of representatives from twenty six leading arts organizations, and supported by Arts & Business
Arts & Business
Arts & Business is a charitable organisation whose role is to develop partnerships between the cultural and private sectors in the United Kingdom. Their aim is to increase investment for the arts from businesses and individuals, while encouraging the exchange of business and creative skills in both...
and the National Campaign for the Arts
National Campaign for the Arts
The National Campaign for the Arts is a lobbying group for the arts in the United KingdomFounded in 1985, NCA claims to be the UK's only independent lobbying organization representing all the arts.- Structure :...
.