The move is supported by Arts Council England, working closely with both charities and approving the management of Poet in the City’s NPO grant by Apples & Snakes. This new way of working will preserve Poet in the City’s twenty-five year legacy and archive, which in due course will be made publicly available for research. Developing new programming opportunities will continue to be a focus, with the continuation of the Young Producers Programme, in partnership with Dugdale Arts Centre and Enfield Council. 

Poet in the City is known for its live events taking poetry into unusual places and spaces, community commissions and talent development. In 2018 they successfully piloted a Young Producers network which grew into a nationwide call for businesses across the creative industries to commit to adding a paid entry-level producers role each year. The charity also, notably, developed a programme of community-led, socially engaged productions, ‘Collections in Verse’, across five city library networks in England in partnership with the British Library.

Apples and Snakes is England’s leading organisation for spoken word with an international reputation for producing engaging, transformative and inspiring experiences for audiences across the UK since 1982. As spoken word trailblazers, the company commissions and produces events, develops artists and runs participation programmes across the country. It exists to amplify ignored voices, support and champion poets and poetry in performance and challenge expectations of what poetry is, and can be.