In the face of escalating environmental crises and growing awareness of the importance of nature in our cultural, mental, and physical wellbeing, we wish to use our position as a commissioner and promoter of writers and as a champion of reading to establish a Nature Poet Laureate for Nottingham with an associated programme of community events, Growing Words.
Our vision is of a city where everyone is reading and writing their way to a better life. We believe in literature as a reflection of humanity at its best, enabling people to better understand each other and the world we live in.
A voice for Nature in Nottingham
We want the Nature Poet Laureate to connect more people with the written and spoken word through the power of nature.
We want to build pathways for young creatives to develop their talent and see viable opportunities in their local area.
We want to nourish communities and celebrate where they live.
We will appoint an exceptional emerging writer into the position of Nature Poet Laureate.
The Nature Poet Laureate will inspire and empower audiences through poetry, and experiment with new approaches to ensure disenfranchised young people engage proactively with poetry as a form of creative expression.
The Laureate's role is also about celebrating talent, providing a platform for commenting on global issues from the viewpoint of a young person, and cultivating confidence and creativity in young people allowing them to thrive.
We also see this project as a way of creating legacies from our previous programmes, fostering new partnerships and creating pathways for young people towards the next poet laureateship.
Aims
Our key aims for this project are:
● To mentor and develop emerging creative talent
● To promote poetry, literature and amplify less-represented young voices to the people of Nottingham
● To help the writer reach readers internationally through the UNESCO Creative Cities network
● To inspire Nottingham’s young people to discover their own voice in poetry, and explore creative opportunities to engage and educate about the climate emergency
● To provide us with essential insights into what it means to be young; their hopes, aspirations and change they would like to see for the future.
The role will require a certain set of skills, outside of poetry talent, in order to maximise the potential of the project, including:
● Experience of public speaking;
● Experience of and passion for engaging and facilitating poetry in community settings;
● An awareness of the issues affecting young people in Nottingham and globally;
● A wide knowledge of poetry and the poetry landscape.
Opportunities for Nature Laureate
The Nature Poet Laureate will be supported by the Nottingham City of Literature team and leading industry professionals.
The Nature Poet Laureate will receive a monthly stipend of £350 per month with the expectation to commit at least 1 day per month to the programme and their creative practice.
The Laureate will gain a higher profile through performances, residencies and public appearances linked to their work as an emerging cultural leader working with Nottingham’s young people. Media exposure will include international, national and local press coverage across print and broadcast, online presence, and a demonstrable increase in social media following.
They will also deliver at least five commissioned pieces written in response to their consultation work. They will be supported in the crafting of the commissioned work so as to produce pieces that can be published by the supporters and partners of the scheme and reach new readers.
A legacy for Nottingham’s Young Creatives
Appointed on National Poetry Day in 2017, Georgina Wilding became the first Young Poet Laureate for Nottingham.
The first Poet Laureate programme worked towards the goal of developing new talent and making poetry more accessible to young people across the city.
Georgina will mentor our next Poet Laureate to build on the lessons learnt and provide ongoing opportunities for the Laureate community in Nottingham.
Georgina’s achievements:
● Over 50 public events reaching audiences of 53,000
● 5 youth-focussed residencies
● Profile beyond Nottingham reaching audiences of 1,500+ in Birmingham, Manchester and Newar
● Engagement with local media outlets including Left Lion Magazine, coverage on the BBC, ITV, Capital and Notts TV, and in the Nottingham Post
● Guest on BBC Radio 4 special broadcast on Front Row – reaching a national audience of 4 million listeners
● Performances alongside the UK’s three National Poet Laureates, Carol-Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Gillian Clarke.
● International opportunities: a two-month paid international residency in Krakow and performances in Granada for World Poetry Day, and at the Off Milosz poetry festival.
● A collection featured in a new ‘Our Voices Are Verses’ anthology published by Big White Shed.
Creative Community Programme _ Growing Words
We want to provide a pathway for the future poet laureates of Nottingham. So, as well as the opportunities to develop their own creative practice, the Nature Poet Laureate will co-facilitate a series of community events during their tenure.
We will work with partners, existing creative practitioners and community members to design and deliver these events.
Nature Connection
Nottingham has diverse communities with thriving cultural heritages, but there are deep inequalities in access to green space and places of nature.
We will work with partners to co-create a programme of culturally relevant opportunities that are informed by three key barriers:
Structural: shortage and/or low quality of nearby accessible natural spaces and often unaffordable costs of visiting distant ones;
Experiential: being made to feel as ‘out-of-place’ or suffer outright racial harassment by predominantly white visitors and/or residents;
Cultural: mostly ‘white’ cultural values are baked into the design/management of natural spaces and into common expectations of how people want and should spend time in these.
We want people to explore their identity and their relationship with nature.
Creative Community Programme _ Growing Words
We have a genuine commitment to co-designing our community programme, so our activities aren’t pre-determined. We have identified 4 opportunity areas that we will pursue, providing one-off and longer term engagement opportunities.
Legacy Partnerships
Building on our existing connections through our library and local heritage project, Our Cities Our Stories. We will revisit these sites and link new partners such as local green spaces, growing groups, communities and local schools. See our ecosystem page for more information on our partnerships.
Young people’s activities
Providing prompts and resources for our existing young people’s programme: Speak Easy Collective and Youth Advisory Board as prototypes for a wider reaching young people’s activity programme.
Place based initiatives
Creating prompts to inspire passersby to create and submit creative written/spoken responses. Green Hustle Festival pop-up poetry events and performances prototype to roll out across other summer festivals. Nottingham City Council partnership to produce a mural in the city.
Creating and sharing tangible assets
The Nature Poet Laureate will produce an anthology of work resulting from their tenure and submissions from the community programme. We will also create a literary map that will signpost creative prompts in green spaces around the city.
Growing Words Ecosystem
We are grateful for the community that have provided creative insight and professional expertise during the development of this programme:
● Cathy Mahmood, ChalleNGe Nottingham
● Dr Miles Richardson, University of Derby
● Sophie Sparham, Beyond the Wild Edge
● Georgina Wilding, Nottingham Poet Laureate
● Leanne Moden, first Laureate co-ordinator
● Rick Hall, Festival of Science and Curiosity
● Adam Pickering, Green Hustle
● Kelly Featherstone, Loughborough University
The Poet Laureate and Growing Words community programme will be supported and co-facilitated by an ecosystem of partners and creative collaborators.
Expression of Interest
To apply to be Nottingham’s Nature Poet Laureate please complete an expression of interest.
You should use the expression of interest to:
1. Demonstrate the skills you have that will enable you to deliver the outputs
2. Your personality and passion for creative writing and the natural environment
3. Your vision for what you want to achieve during your tenure as nature laureate.
You will need to collate the following items for your expression of interest to be included:
● 4 pieces of creative writing, 1 on the theme of nature (2 video performances)
● Personal Statement
● CV
The applications will be judged by a panel reflective of contemporary poetry.
A shortlist will be invited to interview and share their poetry in a performance event.
Nottingham became a UNESCO City of Literature in 2015 on account of our globally renowned literary heritage, a vibrant contemporary writing scene and ambition to build better futures with words. We’re a small but mighty team working to bring books, creative events and experiences to Nottinghamshire, but in particular young people. In our vibrant literary city, there’s a real hunger for live experiences. Talent is everywhere you look, especially from young talent. From our base at Nottingham Central Library, we’re here to feed that hunger and nurture that talent. From first-time writers to established creatives, we:
● Support young people in all things literature
● Champion our literary city on a global stage
● Inspire more Nottingham residents to read, write and enjoy words
● Showcase future generations of writers
● Support ambitious writers in achieving their goals
● Build audiences for live events and experiences
● Attract literary tourism to Nottingham
● Partner with organisations who want to transform lives
