Poet in the City statement – August 2023

Poet in the City, an arts charity with twenty years of experience delivering trailblazing poetry events, is undertaking a complete strategy review in order to ensure the sustainability and longevity of the business. 

Poet in the City holds Arts Council National Portfolio status for a three year period 2023-26, with an annual grant of £68,000. As a charity we also depend on a model of partnerships, trusts and foundations to fund much of our work, a strategy that has been successful for the last ten years.  However, like many arts organisations, we have faced new challenges post-Covid, from the cost of living crisis, high inflation  and significant changes to the funding landscape, and it has been a challenge to hit our recent targets.

While we expect to be able to deliver part of our autumn programming, Executive Director Julia Bird and the board of trustees – with the full support of the Arts Council – have reached the decision to pause on the delivery of new work while we refocus our future strategy and plans, a process which is already underway. Regrettably, this means that contracts of a number of valued staff members will not be renewed this autumn. 

We will be commencing an urgent fundraising campaign to sustain the organisation during this period and to ensure the delivery of some of our existing commitments. We remain committed to using poetry as a force for change, and to be an organisation that commissions and supports poets in their work. We sincerely thank our staff for their hard work, and our audiences, poets and extended network for their support and ask for their continued support over the coming months. 

Executive Director, Julia Bird, says: ‘What has always inspired me about Poet in the City is its capacity to develop in response to a changing world. While we face a tough time currently, I am confident that the combination of the company’s trailblazing DNA, the good will which is shown towards us, and our robust stabilisation plan will see us settle and begin to grow again.’

For more information about our fundraising campaign to raise £25,000, please click here.