Cheltenham Poetry Festival –
ch ch changes…

What a year of change 2021 has been! Not least here at Cheltenham Poetry Festival HQ.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 Festival for pandemic reasons, we transformed the way we serve up poetry to our loyal audiences.

We have had an exceptional year with our audiences, and programme, being bigger than ever before with nearly 3,000 tickets booked and almost 200 poets participating in our feast of on-line events. As well as our wide- and far-ranging outreach activities we offered a rich and diverse programme of readings and talks.

We offered monthly, now legendary, on-line literary lounges featuring over 100 poets and our international stellar line-up included; Nina Lewis, Marvin Thompson, Simon Alderwick, Abegail Morley, Julian Stannard, John Glenday, Graham Clifford, George Szirtes, Bernard O’Donoghue, Richard Skinner, Kim Addonizio, Christina Thatcher, Naush Sabah, Aaron Kent, Stuart McPherson, Nora Nadjarian, Penelope Shuttle, Angela France, Saili Katebe, Helen Calcutt, Jennifer Wong, Elizabeth Parker, Frank McMahon, Jo Cook, Matthew M.C Smith, Gaynor Kane, Isabelle Kenyon, Ruth Padel, Matthew Haigh, Pey Oh, Catherine Okoronkwo, Natalie Perman, Imogen Osborne, Kerry Darbishire, Jason Conway, Frances March, John McCullough Niall M Oliver, Adam Horovtiz, Stewart Carswell, Jean Atkin, Rosie Bailey, Maeve Henry, Ben Verinder, Daniel Sluman, Vic Pickup, Josephine Lay, Claire Dyer, Ben Ray, Suan Afshan, Kerry Priest, Roy Mcfarlane, Wendy Pratt, Clair Chivers, David Lukens, Lee Potts and many more.

We presented poetry in an inspiring and educative way and reached out to disabled and hard of hearing audiences, as well as audiences from lower socio-economic backgrounds and vulnerable groups who have been isolated due to Covid and other reasons. We rolled out an innovative outreach 12-month programme featuring experienced practitioners such as Poetry School prize-winning poet Ben Ray, Nina Lewis, Joe Cooke, Clair Dyer, Josephine Lay, Roy Mcfarlane and Saili Katebe. We took our extensive outreach programme (on-line) to venues including The Independence Trust, Maggie’s Cancer Care, Gloucestershire Deaf Association, The National Star as well as offering them up to anyone with economic or physical barriers to creativity through the festival networks. We offered poetry mentoring – connecting emerging poets with acclaimed writers; Ben Ray has mentored poet Alice Stainer and Roy Mcfarlane has worked with Farah Kriel, as well as offering a stage to many emerging and new poets in our open mics.

 

Outreach

We’ve have rolled out an inspiring and innovative outreach 12-month programme featuring experienced practitioners such as Poetry School prize-winning poet Ben Ray, Nina Lewis, Joe Cooke, Clair Dyer, Josephine Lay, Roy Mcfarlane and Saili Katebe.

Our outreach activities have been designed to make poetry accessible and empowering to the most vulnerable members of society.

We have taken our extensive outreach programme (on-line) to venues including The Independence Trust, Maggie’s Cancer Care, Gloucestershire Deaf Association, The National Star as well as offering them up to anyone with economic or physical barriers to creativity through the festival networks.

 

Mentoring

We have offered poetry mentoring – connecting emerging poets with acclaimed writers; Ben Ray has mentored poet Alice Stainer and Roy Mcfarlane has worked with Farah Kriel.

 

Workshops

Our workshops are instrumental in; enabling people to discover their creativity, demonstrating the benefits of writing as a means of expression and providing participants with creative tools they can use throughout their lives.

Our workshops have been described as inspiring, community building, inclusive, motivating and life-changing.

 

Results & Feedback

Offering our events online this year has deepened and expanded our understanding of barriers to creativity in all its manifestations. Our wide and expansive outreach programme has enabled us to reach those who have barriers to creativity that are above and beyond covid related barriers. By running available-to-all, free, online workshops, readings and poetry shares, we have been able to offer life-enhancing, well-being boosting, and community building to the whole country – and our new and expanded audiences include those who have been unable to attend in-person events due to physical, regional, economic and mental-health related barriers to creativity.

The feedback we have received has been testimony to the community building, isolation-busting, empowering and elevating properties of our readings and workshops. There has been a genuine sense of community, companionship and peer-support at our events.

Many people have said the online events have provided a safe and positive space during the pandemic and has improved their health and well-being and improved their mental health. It has given them a warm and supportive social life at a time when many are isolated, and it has brought the poetry community to the door of those who have long term issues.

We are overjoyed at the feedback we have received from poetry lovers who feel able to participate in events, now they are on-line. We aim to build on that in 2022 – and offer both a real and virtual festival, to reach the maximum number of people.

We hope to see you on line, and in person very soon!