Life on the High Street

Poet in the City is thrilled to announce a partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich and RevolYOUtion London to tell the story of Woolwich High Street through poetry, film and public art.

The Life on the High Street project will capture stories about Woolwich High Street so that they can be woven into a poem written by RevoYOUtion’s Rasheeda Page-Muir. Local memories and experiences of the high street will be collected through a virtual poetry busking event, a social media campaign and community outreach, with the work being led by local youth social enterprise RevolYOUtion London and responses will be shared with Spread the Word, who are working with local writer Merrie Joy Williams to explore the story of Woolwich High Street.

Local residents are also invited to be involved in the creation of shop front displays and pavement art across Woolwich High Street with artist R.M. Sánchez-Camus and a new poetry film with local production company, Crixus Productions. The art installations and film will creatively bring alive the new epic poem created for the high street and act as a legacy of the project. 

The public artwork and poetry film will be launched in spring 2021 and audiences will be invited to discover the new artwork through a geotagging app and document their experiences online.  

Cllr Sarah Merrill, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Growth, said:

“Life on the High Street aims to celebrate Woolwich High Street’s history and local people through art and poetry, forging connections between different communities, whilst also helping us to start conversations about what we want our high street to look like in years to come. The prospect of having our local stories turned into artwork and performed as a poem right here in Woolwich next year is very exciting.”

Isobel Colchester, Chief Executive, Poet in the City, said:

“At a time when community cohesion, amplifying local voices and developing skills has never been more important, Poet in the City is incredibly proud to be working with the Royal Borough of Greenwich on the Life on the High Street project. Genuine local partnership is central to everything we do and we are proud to be working with a team of creatives based in Woolwich to animate the stories of Woolwich High street through poetry, film and visual art, in a way we hope will create a lasting impact on the area.”

“We’ve been inspired by the Council’s openness and experience in community collaboration, and by the amazing local communities shaping the way their histories and future hopes for the area are told.”

Get involved!

• Share your stories and tell us what Woolwich means to you! Poet in the City and Spread the Word would love to include your experiences in a new poem and short story created especially for Woolwich – complete this form with your favourite memories.

• Attend online workshops with Poet in the City with poets, filmmakers and visual artists to develop a new film, shop window display and pavement art to showcase the new Woolwich High Street poem.

• You can choose to either be in the film or give any creative direction – we value your input! 

• Share our project on your social media platforms – follow on Instagram: @Poet_in_the_City, @spreadthewordwriters, @revolyoutionlondon and Twitter: @PoetintheCityUK, @STWevents, @revolYOUtionLDN to stay up to date with the project.

Biographies

Rasheeda Page-Muir is a 23-year-old poet, public speaker, writer and community organiser from South East London. After serving as a member of the UK Youth Parliament for 2 years at 17 years old, she founded the organisation RevolYOUtion London providing a platform for young people to discuss social and political issues whilst also supporting new youth organisations in the area. Rasheeda has spoken on the world-renowned TEDx stage twice, discussing the importance of rap music, feminism and masculinity within contemporary culture. In 2018 she won the SOAS Social Activist of the Year Award.

RevolYOUtion London is a social enterprise designed to facilitate debate within communities, run for young people, by young people – will be leading the way, reaching and and talking to people and communities.

R.M. Sánchez-Camus is a creative practitioner who develops works of art in collaboration with community partners. They create site-responsive works that activate dialogue, interaction, visual impact and community cohesion. Their interests lay in neighbourhood narratives, hidden mythologies, psychogeography, and outdoor works. Last year they developed the project ‘Text Bender’ for Home on the High Street in Slough with local communities. A community visual text take-over of the 3,000 Sq Ft gallery of HOME Slough.

Crixus Productions is founded and run by Rupert Hopkins and Joe Watkins. They began trading in 2016. Since then they have acquired numerous clients in the music industry such as Island Records, Crixus has produced videos for artists such as Jesse Ware, Disclosure and Chase and Status. They have also made commercials for big brands such as Kellogs and Tesco. In 2017 they built a film studio space in Woolwich, since then they have expanded to three studios and run a creative office within the same location exclusively for filmmakers. In 2020 they released their first feature film ‘South of The River’ a South London based comedy, now available on Amazon, Sky Store and iTunes.