Previous years
Explore the history of Poet in the City Producers, alumni and projects produced by cohort.
Exeter 2021-2022: Build Your Warrior
Made-up of seven brilliant young people aged 18-25 from Exeter and the South West.
Poet in the City Young Producers curated a line-up of artists and poets as they celebrated feminism, the feminist movement and personal empowerment. The producers presented a night of empowerment and learning about “how we take care of ourselves whilst fighting for our rights.”
The night was hosted by Mama Tokus and featured south-west based artists Sammy Paloma and Holly Moberley who shared their poetry on the relationship between care and feminism in the work towards equality.
Exeter Producers Class of 2022: Daniel Sved, Michela Riccardi, Abby Crawford, Zoe Man, Daniel Hill, Jithya Wijesinghe, Jaz Weyer-Brown
Newcastle 2021- 2022: Diverse Femininity
In collaboration with Born Lippy, Newcastle Poet in the City Producers created a one-night event exploring femininity and queer identity in the north-east. The young producers curated a brilliant line-up of poets, musicians and comedians from the Newcastle community who shared their own unique insights into femininity, masculinity, gender and queerness. The event featured performed and audience participation-style pieces exploring both positive stories and those of inspirational hardship, before making way for an open mic.
Newcastle Class of 2022: Amy Langdown, Jay Conlon, Grace Branch, Georgie Barnett, Jessica Henderson, Jasmine Inaiyah
London 2021: Young Producers WAC Arts
Poet in the City joined forces with WAC Arts to create a young producers programme.
In January 2021, a group of talented young people aged 15+ attended a series of 4 creative producer workshops to produce their own virtual event. They developed key skills in curation, programming, production and marketing.
This project took place online due to the pandemic.
2019 Cohort
Class of 2019: Aatqa Arham, Amy Ann Kemp, Angela Okafor, Rosie Wassi, Chris Shapiro, Courtney Roberts, Edward Walker, Esther Kondo Heller, Ilisha Purcell, Jess Rahman-Gonzalez, Kate Murrant, Laura Furner, Oli Isaac Smith, Sally Ann Wood, Tasmia Salim, Valerie Kwan, Vanessa Martins
2019 Producers Spring Season – Poetry & Lyrics Festival
May Ayim: Borderless & Brazen
An event celebrating the joys of the in-between through the poetry of May Ayim. A pioneer of the Afro-German movement, Ayim’s work is rooted in community. She examines finally finding a deep sense of belonging in Germany’s African diaspora and a connection to the global diaspora via the musical tradition of blues.
With poetry and blues music at the heart of Borderless & Brazen, we explored the lives and lyrics that exist beyond society’s perceived boundaries of identity, heritage and genre in an evening hosted by writer Olumide Popoola and featuring performances by poet Gboyega Odubanjo and musician Bumi Thomas.
Beyond Words: The Songs of Sign Language
An exploration of the music that’s made when poetry is translated to sign language as we unpick BSL’s relationship to the arts through performance and discussion with signrapper SignKid and actor Nadia Nadarajah. The event was in BSL with an English interpreter for hearing audiences.
UN/DEFINED
A special edition podcast. Defining moments in undefined lives. This episode celebrates the stories of people in grey areas, between binaries who occupy and live in multiple worlds. Featuring Travis Alabanza, Poppy Noor and Sophia Thakur, in their own words, and the poetry and music that has defined them in an otherwise undefined life. Listen here.
2019 Autumn Season – Global Stories, British Identity
Legna Rodriguez Iglesias: A little body are many parts
In collaboration with the Poetry Translation Centre and British Library
An evening with one of the most celebrated Cuban poets writing today, in a rare UK appearance, Legna Rodriguez Iglesias. Taking place in the heart of the British Library the event explored reclaiming the narrative surrounding Latinx women’s bodies. Featuring live poetry in Spanish and English, and discussion with Serafina Vick and hosted by Brazilian-British artist and activist Joana Nastari, writer and performer of the award-winning show Fuck You, Pay Me, a love letter to strippers that fuses poetry, comedy and music to break the stigma surrounding sex work.
My Wound Was an Exhibit: An exploration of the power of art in the times of protest
In collaboration with the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
An evening of conversation and live performance, exploring art as resistance in a climate of censorship inspired by the powerful street art of activist and political protestor, Bahia Shehab. A panel of artists and activists discussed relationship between art and protest, guided by their personal experiences of conflict and resistance hosted by writer and activist Salma El-Wardany and featuring contemporary poets Ola Elhassan and Zad El Bacha, and multi-instrumentalist Kareem Samara.
During event development, Producers visited the At the Corner of a Dream exhibition of Bahia Shehab’s work at the Aga Khan Centre and we hosted a roundtable discussion with some of the students at AKU facilitated by Shay D, featuring an inspiring talk from Bahia Shehab herself. Read Momtaza Mehri’s poetic minutes A Thousand No’s here.
Deconstructing Empire: The Great British Fantasy?
In collaboration with St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
An evening in the Wren Suite at St Paul’s Cathedral exploring the colonial nostalgia that has crept into so much of our contemporary debate, from Brexit, to border control, to the (at the time) imminent General Election. Featuring poetry performance from Imtiaz Dharker, and performance and discussion with bassoonist Linton Wesley Stephens and poet Anthony Anaxagorou, chaired by Dr Sona Datta.
Read the full event write up here.
2018 Cohort
Class of 2018: Chima Itabor, Sam Hampson, Marika Joseph, Izzy Collie Cousins, Teige Maddison, Arran Olk, Omari Daniel, Morgan-Lucille Smith, Kayleigh Colbourn, Violaine Brunelin, Rosanna Hildyard, Chhaya Dabas, Tom Jousselin, Katka Krajciova, Billie Manning, Sarah Boadi, Natasha Mbwana
2018 Producers Spring Season – Community
What song makes you feel at home?
A roundtable discussion as part of Poetry & Lyrics Festival exploring the role of music in community cohesion featuring ICIE Music, brother portrait and Jonzi D. Click here to read brother portrait’s poetic minutes of the session.
Speak Your Truth: Sub-Culture and the Mainstream
How are subcultures reflected in mainstream music and poetry? What happens when subculture starts to become part of the mainstream? Where do we draw the line between the two? Where do we draw the line between poetry and lyrics? Featuring gal-dem’s Music Editor Antonia Odunlami, The Repeat Beat Poet and story-teller rapper-poet Otis Mensah.
Sweet Solitude
In collaboration with Free Word. A poetic exploration of silence, and how solitude, both inflicted and self-imposed, can manifest itself creatively. Featuring poets Jacob Sam-La Rose and Nick Makoha, Women in Prison’s Policy and Campaigns Manager Claire Cain and a silent performance from mime artist Ellie Cummings.
2018 Producers Autumn Season – Museums, Objects and Ownership
Objects & Ownership
In collaboration with Wellcome RawMinds Ambassadors. Between May-September 2018, PinC Producers worked with Wellcome RawMinds Ambassadors on a collaborative project exploring the role of poetry in shining a light on the lesser heard stories in museums. Both groups took part in a roundtable facilitated by Peju Oshin with poetic minutes by Momtaza Mehri. Read Momtaza Mehri’s poetic minutes here.
BC/AD: Before Collection/After Disappearance at You Don’t Own Me
In response to the Objects & Ownership Roundtable, PinC Producers and RawMinds Ambassadors collaborated on a special late event – You Don’t Own Me. The Producers presented an event with the intention of being bold, bright and loud in the museum space. Featuring poets Rachel Long, Dean Atta and Madi Maxwell-Libby, and a performance from Pecs Drag Kings. The Ambassadors presented Truth Be Told Tours, alternate history tours of the Medicine Man exhibition.
Objects Can’t Speak
What does it mean to give ‘voice’ to an object / a cause / a movement? How might we use poetry to dissent?
Following a viewing of Ian Hislop’s I Object exhibition at the British Museum, Producers curated a roundtable discussion interrogating the role of poetry and objects in dissent. Featuring poetic minutes by Belinda Zhawi.
Anti and Establishment
Inspired by the British Museum’s I Object exhibition, the Producers created an event in objection to the perceived norms of the establishment within the heart of the establishment itself. Exploring dissent through comedy, choreography and criticism featuring Rob Auton, André Bright and Sarah Howe.
2017 Cohort
Class of 2017: Ariel Silverman, Rhea Seedher, Olivia Amura, Chibeza Mumbi, Jessica Hayes, Lauryn Grant, Rakaya Fetuga, Axel Kacoutié, Victoria Bastable, Rachel Lewis, Faris Al Ali, Felix Fallon, Amica Sciortino Nowlan, Esmee West-Agboola, Najwa Umran, Louisa Danquah and Milica Cortanovacki
2017 Producers Spring Season
Still I Rise: Hip Hop, Feminism & Poetry
As part of Poetry & Lyrics Festival 2017, Producers Rakaya Fetuga, Rhea Seedher, Chibeza Mumbi, Rachel Lewis, Faris Al Ali and Felix Fallon programmed Still I Rise, an event exploring the changing debate around feminism through the overlapping lenses of poetry and rap. The event featured three phenomenal female artists, Shay D, Floetic Lara and Rasheeda Page-Muir. Click the links below to explore additional event content.
Meet the lyricists behind Still I Rise: The poetry event creating social change (gal-dem)
Rachel Lewis and Rasheeda Page-Muir interview on Soho Radio (34mins & 42 mins)
Video by Chelsea PG-Goodwin & Kevin Cordoba-Llanos at City Uni
Searching For Utopia
A podcast curated and produced as part of Poetry & Lyrics Festival 2017 by Axel Kacoutié, Amica Sciortino Nowlan, Ariel Silverman, Louisa Danquah, Milica Cortanovacki and Olivia Amura. A unique arrangement of performances, reflection and debate with Dr Ruth Padel, the Reverend Lucy Winkett, James Massiah and Niles Hailstones from Asheber & The Afrikan Revolution. Together we explore how the realms of poetic language and music have helped map the search for a perfect world – be it personal, political, or spiritual. We examine the potential for Utopia, and its flaws, taking the listener on a creative journey to imagine the impossible. Listen here.
Language, Power and Oppression: What can the role of poetry and creative language be to shift power dynamics in the media?
Producers Jessica Hayes, Victoria Bastable, Lauryn Grant, Najwa Umran, Esmee West-Agboola and Jasmine White programmed a special roundtable event at Unusual Suspects Festival exploring power dynamics within the media and how poetry has the power to create an alternative, more human, narrative to the mainstream media. We were joined by speakers Maurice Mcleod (Media Diversified), Georgia Bowen-Evans (gal-dem) and poet Zena Edwards to give insight into power and oppression within their respective fields of work. You can read the full write up of the day here. Read Zena’s poetic minutes of the session here.
2017 Producers Autumn Season
In Transit
Producers Ariel Silverman, Rhea Seedher, Olivia Amura and Chibeza Mumbi kicked off Autumn with a live poetry and music event for National Poetry Day exploring the freedom of travel and its challenges. Featuring performances by poets and bi-lingual music from the Palestinian Trio, the event used the backdrop of St Pancras International Station to showcase stories of those who travel to seek refuge, interrogating present day struggles for freedom around the world. Click here to read a review of the performance on writeoutloud.net
The Space Between Us
In November, we embarked on a journey to St Hugh’s College in Oxford for a tour of the historic Bodleain Library, a networking lunch with industry professionals and poets, followed by an event curated by Jessica Hayes, Lauryn Grant and Rakaya Fetuga in the evening. The Space Between us invited three contemporary female poets, Patience Agbabi, Jay Bernard and Victoria Adukwei Bulley, to take a trip back in time and read the works of historic female poets that inspire them alongside works of their own.
Tokens of Motherhood
In the finale event of the year, Axel Kacoutié, Victoria Bastable and Rachel Lewis produced an event in response to the Basic Instincts exhibition at the Foundling Museum. Focusing on themes of motherhood, shame and social attitudes from the 18th Century until now, the event featured Liz Berry, Rebecca Goss and Amina Jama performing their own work and an audio installation which you can hear here.
2016 Young Producers Events
- SkinDEEP
- Alternate Realities
History of Poet in the City Producers
Since 2013 Poet in the City has been running mentoring schemes to engage young people with what we do and encourage access into the arts for everyone. Previous years have seen us work in collaboration with Maria Fidelis School, UCL Academy and Mulberry School for Girls. After three successful years of mentoring, we relaunched our youth engagement programme as Poet in the City Producers in 2017.
If you are curious about the arts and want to see if this could be the career for you, do get in touch at [email protected].