Published on Book Brunch Magazine. (bookbrunch.co.uk) 18 May 2022
Running a festival brings creative and commercial challenges, but the future is positive if you can find your niche, according to the founder of Cheltenham Poetry Festival
A dancing band from Nigeria once got in touch with Anna Saunders, asking if they could perform at Cheltenham Poetry Festival.
“I had to politely point out I thought they were confusing us with the Cheltenham Literature Festival. I wonder if they were hoping we’d be able to offer flights and hotels for a troupe of dancers!”
Such instances of people assuming the Poetry Festival is part of the Gloucestershire town’s much larger literary gathering happen far less frequently these days as the former event has made a name for itself since its 2011 launch.
‘A poetry party with a healthy dose on anarchy,’ is how The Guardian once described it – and it’s a label that founder and chief executive Anna Saunders feels sums it up well.
“We always wanted to be a bohemian festival, but an erudite one. We try to be thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating and inspiring, but also fun,” she says.
The annual event has been a labour of love for Saunders, a writer and tutor. Friends, she recalls, initially cautioned her against embarking on such a project. “’Don’t do it,’ they told me. ‘You won’t make any money and the bureaucracy will be a nightmare.’
“They were right about the money in that, although we’ve never made a loss, everything we have made has gone back into the festival. But it’s immensely creatively fulfilling to put on events.”
Her vision has been to create a stage for internationally acclaimed and up-and-coming poets. Established writers and performers such as John Cooper Clarke, Fiona Sampson, George Szirtes and Kim Moore have attended, alongside relative unknowns.
“Our sole criterion is to have really strong poets. We resist the temptation of booking TV stars and politicians if they don’t tick that box.
“Some of our audiences are large, but if we have an event which ends up with a small, intimate audience that is still perfectly valid. We try to be politically aware and socially conscious. We value the cerebral above the material and the commercial – which feels quite a radical act in an era of hyper-capitalism.”
Having a clear vision helps with attracting poets, says Saunders. “If an event is run by poets and people who love poetry, those who take part know they’ll be respected, put centre-stage and delivered an audience of true poetry lovers. They’ll be confident they’ll be promoted in the right way, too.”
It’s also important those organising festivals have a clear sense of where their event sits in the wider poetic – and cultural – landscape, she believes. “They need to understand and be clear about their own objectives.
“We have a good relationship with the Literature Festival and have run events with them, but we’re trying to do very different things. We’re more like Ledbury Poetry Festival in terms of our ethos and model. I can’t understand the concept of competitiveness. I don’t feel we’re a product competing with another product in the market for the same audience. If people get a taste of poetry at, say, Aldeburgh and then look for other festivals, we all benefit. Poetry feeds poetry and creates an appetite for itself.”
Having a personal connection with the location is also important, suggests Saunders. “You’ll be more aware of what’s happening artistically and can support local artists, as well as being able to bring people to the town. Practically, it helps to be based in that place, too.”
Festivals – and those who run them – should be part of the “fabric” of a town or city, she believes. “I’m on Cheltenham Culture Board and we’re working on having a more joined-up cultural strategy. That’s needed more than ever, following the Covid pandemic. Hopefully there’ll be more crossover and synergy between all the different arts activities, which will give a real boost to local venues.”
The pandemic took its toll on the Festival’s bottom line, but ensuring commercial viability is a constant challenge. “You can never rest on your laurels when it comes to finance. We’ve been lucky enough to get some funding every year from Arts Council England, but that certainly doesn’t cover all the costs, so ticket sales and commercial sponsors are vital.
“Finding sponsors can be tricky,” she acknowledges. “It’s all about the ‘fit’, so we try to reach out to people with a similar view to us, in terms of feeling strongly about the community and eco-credentials. It doesn’t matter what business they’re in, however – so the list includes everyone from the University of Gloucestershire to Cheltenham Cycles!
“We certainly wouldn’t exclude sponsors who aren’t local, but involving organisations or charities based in the town or the county feels like it’s an embodiment of our values.
“Although she’s retiring this year, we’ve recently had a divorce lawyer as our headline sponsor,” adds Saunders. “We once had a big group of divorce lawyers come and watch a poet called ‘Miserable Malcolm’ who frames himself as Stroud’s most miserable poet. He had the divorce lawyers in hysterics. It must have been a very different day for them!”
The costs of putting on the Festival are also increased by a policy of always offering a fee to those taking part. “Some local poets have waived their fee, but we’ll always offer them, both for in-person and online events.
“It’s difficult to get the balance right – we want to be fair to the those doing the reading, workshop or performance, but not threaten the future of the festival. The reality is, small festivals just don’t have big cash reserves.”
Ultimately, the endeavour is “largely carried by the big hearts of the volunteers”, with Zoe Brooks and Annie Ellis also integral to its success, covering everything from fundraising to social media.
“There have been times when it’s been really difficult,” says Saunders. “I was working ridiculously long hours for the first few years, but the excitement of it carried me along. This is a passion project and that drives you through the more difficult times. We’ve carried on going and it feels like the poetry has a force of its own.”
While there are peaks and troughs of activity during the year, it helps that there is now an established audience and the team have processes in place. “You still have to be hands-on and get your hands dirty doing a bit of everything, whether that’s walking round town with big bags of leaflets or sitting for hours doing admin.”
Like many, though, Cheltenham Poetry Festival has had to reinvent itself during the pandemic and go online. While this has reduced overheads and expanded audiences, the strategy now is to take a two-pronged approached – reaching people in their own homes who might not be able to attend in-person because of physical, financial or geographical barriers, but also to be back on the ground serving the local community. So in tandem with the ongoing digital offering, there will a 10-day programme of ‘in-person’ events in September.
“Our audiences have expanded as a result of being able to connect with new people digitally, but it’s a tragedy how the commercial landscape of Cheltenham – like towns everywhere – has suffered in the past two years. The High Street has had such a tough time and some of the places we’ve worked with in the past have closed. We want to play our part in helping to revitalise that.
“We’re very well served in Cheltenham in terms of superb festivals. Whether you love literature, science, music or film, there’s something for you, but I’ve always felt there was a window for more poetry. When people think of Cheltenham, they probably initially think of horse-racing – but I want them to think of poetry, too.”
‘Gloucestershire School of Poetry’ to be revealed as important literary movement
A previously unrecognised poetic movement will be revealed at this year’s Cheltenham Poetry Festival in September.
Leading poet and writer Professor Fiona Sampson MBE FRSL will tell festival-goers that the county has been home to an influential group who should be joined under the banner of ‘The Gloucestershire School’.
This never-before-defined cohort will be discussed by Sampson on September 14, when the Festival’s 10-day programme of events begins.
“My connections with Gloucestershire go back decades and I’ve always felt there was a particular sensibility which has shaped much of the poetry that has been written here,” says Sampson.
“Writers such as Laurie Lee, U.A. Fanthorpe and Michael Horovitz may have been very different stylistically, tonally and in terms of their career paths, but they were all preoccupied by place, localism and the natural world.
“They all had strong roots in the community and can be linked by the way they were shaped by – and took inspiration from – the unique characteristics of this county.”
According to Sampson, The Gloucestershire School was producing some of its most exciting work at a time when the county was “far more rural, far more remote and seen as far less fashionable than it is today”.
“This environment created a particular mood for poetry, particularly in the 1970s. It was before the writing scene became overtly professionalised and it was very participative. It was a time of idealism. It was a moment of tumbledown cottages and old rectories with overgrown gardens and nettles growing through the kitchen window where often-impoverished artists were trying to make things happen.”
The newly coined ‘Gloucestershire School’ drew influences from the oft-talked-about ‘Dymock Poets’, the early 20th Century group which included Rupert Brooke, Edward Thomas and Robert Frost, suggests Sampson, whose new book Starlight Wood: Walking Back to the Romantic Countryside is published in September by Little, Brown.
“All poetry is a continuum, though, so you have to see it in the context of time and, ultimately, as a group practice. Writers act as waymarkers, they pass on a baton. The Gloucestershire School is an important and hitherto overlooked group in this long creative chain and its influence is seen on today’s writers.
“They wouldn’t have regarded themselves as a ‘movement’ or even necessarily as connected, but with hindsight we can certainly join the dots now. They occupy an important place in the history of British poetry so it’s important to showcase them.”
Founder and chief executive of Cheltenham Poetry Festival, Anna Saunders, says: “We’ve all heard of groups such as The Bloomsbury Set, the New York School of Poets and The Modernists, but it’s wonderful to hear about one originating and formed in this county.”
About Cheltenham Poetry Festival
A 10-day programme of events running between September 14 and 24, 2022. Founded in 2011, the Festival – which The Guardian once described as ‘a poetry party with a healthy dose of anarchy’ – brings together established writers and performers from around the world and new voices. It also runs online readings, workshops and performances. More details at cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk
For more information and to arrange interviews with Fiona Sampson or Anna Saunders, please contact Tim Relf on 07974 265456.