Week One
Nine Young Newcastle Producers had their first session at Riverside Community Health Project. They got to know each other by sharing their own connections to the art they create, consume or are interested in.
They took part in a lifeboat roleplaying game where they had to make the case of why they should remain on a boat. Reflecting on this exercise, they learnt about group decision making, including differing viewpoints and compromising.
Week Two
The group worked on writing their own creative manifesto poems- to help guide the values of the community event they will produce in Benwell in the Westend of Newcastle in June.
Here they are:
Encourage each other’s potential, discover a variety of overlooked talents in a show where people are inspired in however a small way, an inclusive event where people come together and feel at ease where unison, organisation and spirit are present behind the scenes, it will be reflected on stage Impactful, thoughtful and clear vision/decision making will make for a memorable event You might arrive separately but leave as one I want to have an event where I can fire finger pistols at your nan, where we throw out creepy men and hype each other up in the toilet, the party doesn’t stop at the stage, turning up late is ok – even a broken clock is right twice a day. It’s s**t outside. We’ve got something nice in here, we want an applause
They read through the brief for the project and started to think about their audience – how they would engage the community in their event and what stories they might want to tell.
Week Three
The Newcastle Producers visited Northern Stage to Meet with with Theresa Muñoz – the Artistic Director of the Newcastle Poetry Festival. She talked about: the vision of the event, this year’s theme which is community, how the festival decides on which poets to book and the need to pay artists a fair rate of pay.
The Producers received their brief for their festival – they are supporting Born Lippy to produce an Open Mic Poetry Event as part of the festival on the 12th May. The group researched acts they want to approach to headline this event.
Born Lippy visit.
The Newcastle Producers attended Born Lippy event – Poetic Pop-up at The Magic Hat Cafe to help inspire their ideas for planning their own event in June.
They got to watch amazing performances by poet: Kate Fox and Poet in the City facilitator Amy Langdown, rapper Kema Kay, stand up Omar Abid. The group carried out out a survey assessing poetry events- Born Lippy’s Strengths and Weaknesses.
Here are some quotes:
I enjoyed the sense of community and the sheer artistic talent on display.
Pacing was excellent, I was really amazed by the choice of when to have people on. Very well planned.
Yes there was a balance of voices, tones and perspectives hearing from different genders/races/ages/backgrounds.
I would have liked to see more word play that explored nonsense or had a silly, playful tone. I would have liked to see more theatrical elements too and performances that extend the spoken into the physical more. “
Week Four
The Poet in the City Newcastle Producers took part in an online marketing workshop with their counterparts in Exeter. The workshop was led by Poet in the City comms Manager – Naomi Rees, who taught them about the different factors of running a marketing campaign for an event.
They used software package Canva for the first time to produce some social media assets for the Newcastle Poetry Festival.
Following on from their visit to poetry event Born Lippy, the group had a good discussion about different forms of poetry events (e.g open mic, poetry slam, reading). They started to think about what format their event might take.
