Meter 10 at the Exeter Poetry Festival

A busy Saturday getting a Spoken/Written and CC Press stall together for the networking meeting held by Apples & Snakes and Cyprus Well as part of the Exeter Poetry Festival (the city's first). The evening went well, with lots of folks I knew there, and we were given a good BIG table for the stall, and covered it with signs, leaflets, books, chapbooks, sign up book, posters, laminated info sheets, past editions, information file to look through, cards to take away, Viking wristbands (free with each copy of the 'Porlock' novel), Widsith & Deor badges...! There were brief addresses from Rachel McCarthy of Excite (the country's biggest Poetry Society Poetry Stanza), Gina Sherman of Apples & Snakes S.W., and Tracey Guirey of Cyprus Well, and then people mingled. Subscribers who I knew came and said hello, poets signed up who'd not yet done so, some folks dug into their pockets and paid their subscription fees there and then! And it was lovely to meet some subscribers who I'd only known through e-mail beforehand. Met also some other really interesting people like the guy running the Waterstones stall, and the guest poet of the evening, the both riveting and utterly charming Dorothea Smartt, who did a compelling set with her lovely voice making sure you heard and paid attention to every word she said, to round off the event. I especially liked her line - (something like) 'denial is just a debt with interest that's yet to be paid' (on the issue of slavery/denying responsibility for past wrongs), and her powerful list of names/things to call someone - from son and father to dissident or rebel to criminal or slave, and so on. It was very evocative and telling.

   All in all, it was worth carting boxes and files of stuff on a Saturday evening into town, and I don't think it could really have gone better.
Special thanks to Alex and Gina for all their organizing and making it - and indeed the whole Festival! - go with such a swing.

Days Out of Time

Just returned from Bath and Bristol, and a packed weekend. Not long after a brilliant warm-up night at the Storyclub, on Wednesday, on the Sunday, we storytellers were performing as part of Awen Publications' and Icepax Productions' Garden of Awen cabaret night at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath. The event was beautifully decorated and the venue a really nice one. Unlike many religious buildings converted to other uses, it had intimacy and wasn't draughty. The stage area was quite high, and a nice size. Black and a few white circular bistro tables with upholstered chairs filled the rest of the space, with a bar at the back. Candles were lit on the tables which made play of the mirror-like surfaces, and the house lights were globes on the walls above, shedding a soft indirect glow.

The stage was a vision in red panels which glowed with the lighting rig changes, adorned in red roses for the love theme, with bird cages like Cocteau-style aerial scribbles, all surreal and hanging at different heights behind which were remarkably effective. The evening was excellent with a good turn out, great turns from the likes of Kevan Manwaring (of Awen) who was launching his latest book of poetry, and Saravian a very fine singer/songwriter who sang hauntingly of the theme. The lighting turned the backdrop from crimson to magenta, darkened the background to make everything vivid... Our own couple of sets seemed to go down well, and we had brought plenty of red fabric and pink organza for the theme!

By 2am, I was ready to collapse, having caught up with the ever-hospitable Kevan, renewed contact with two other members of Fire Springs storytellers who I had not seen in too long, had a quick look round beautiful Bath, lugged prop and book boxes to and from town and van, and all in suspense (more of that in a moment). The next day, up early and onward to Bristol, to meet a philosopher friend in the Arnolfini - the perfect place for it, and much catching up was also done! Before finally returning to base, tired but full of good coffee, and a succession of images and conversations...

I had hardly put down the boxes, when I got a call. I had applied, not without concerns as to how possible it would be with 3 jobs, one of which being Spoken/Written with all its attendant commitments, plus another two newsletters to research! - for the post of Apples & Snakes S.W. co-ordinator. The interview had been before the weekend, involving a panel of questioners and a presentation. The decision was to come on the Monday, and so while I was equally divided about concerns for giving the fullest attention to this or that role at any one time, the news came. In a way the best of all outcomes - Spoken/Written and my own role in the scene, the work that it and I as editor do were called 'inspiring' but I was not going to be called on to attempt to juggle four roles, and possibly (and agonizingly) pass on the editorship (of Spoken/Written), even temporarily to another, nor to leave key administrative tasks for the Collective to the others (who had expressed mixed emotions about possible changes).

I felt that perhaps an opportunity of another kind had opened up - a mental space to take with even more seriousness the three tasks which are already mine. And it had clarified the areas on which I (as many artists) need to expand and work to better hone - those of marketing, fundraising, and turning key relationships with the likes of promoters to better account.

I had already learnt so much just from the process of writing such an application, a presentation, answering key questions put by those involved in a large arts organization, perhaps most rewardingly, calling on those I admire or have worked with to give testimonials in favour of the skills I offered...and debriefing with another artist who had applied for the same post. So the whole thing felt worth having done.

And after a weekend of architecture, events and catching up with friends to take my mind from the suspense or uncertainty, it was ended. Another extraordinary weekend. Big thanks must go to Kevan, fellow performers, Will, and Chris, Jon, Dave, and Clive of the Storyclub, Kirsty and Anthony, all those who have made Spoken/Written what it is from readers, subscribers, donors or the Arts Council, and finally to A&S for a most interesting experience.

The Rain it Raineth Every Day...

Heard this week that Arts Council funding will not be renewed for Spoken/Written. Something of a blow, as I'd taken care to go through all the points system with a fine toothcomb, making sure that the application met every need. Sure enough when the letter came, it said that Spoken/Written's application had indeed fulfilled all the criteria and was eligible...but that they had had to turn down even perfectly good applications this time round. And of course, having been funded before put Spoken/Written and I in a weaker position, as the Bulletin is not like say a theatre, i.e. a regularly funded organization, but a series of grants for different aspects of the project. Last time I had to fill in an application for funding, there was a 50% success rate. For this year the figures have dropped to 38%. Spoken/Written just happened to be in the unfortunate 12% - a consequence of the Arts Council's own funding cuts. It feels like two months of sheer stress and going through the endless form and information notes at every spare moment was like a waste of time. However, after having worked to build up Spoken/Written into the valued resource it has become, I'm not going to let it go to the wall without a fight. After 38 Editions, and being its founder, it feels like too much energy has already gone into it to just grind to a halt. And the Quotes page on the website is a testament to how much subscribers and readers value and like it.  The proposed back issues/opportunities for writers website will still go ahead. It is just shaping up to be a Google free site, rather than one with a lot of fancy features to it. It will host advertising to help keep the Bulletin going. The Bulletin itself will have to charge for some entries, and voluntary subscription fees will be solicited. 

   As said in a previous post, six pounds for readers, eight pounds for artists/professionals, ten pounds for small organizations and so on does not seem unreasonable when looking at 10 editions a year, always over 10 pages, more often 12 (the last was 14) and often with a supplement of three pages plus. Cheques are best as PayPal take a portion - for example 30p from a three pound donation/contribution and 40p from a six pound one. 

   Whether through a mixture of donations, advertising, GoogleAdSense, voluntary subs or other sources, Spoken/Written must earn its keep, as it takes a third of a working year to put together. Huge thanks to those who have sent in amounts so far, especially the twenty pound cheques! it's all vital to keeping Spoken/Written going. 

   Big thanks also must go to Rachel McCarthy of ExCite Poetry, the Poetry Society Stanza for E.Devon for hosting Spoken/Written at the launch party of the Poetry Stanza at the lovely Devon and Exeter Institution last Wednesday, and Mel Scaffold of Apples and Snakes S.W. for having a Spoken/Written stall at the Gallery Session's Brian Patten event at the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple this Wednesday. It will help raise Spoken/Written's profile further, and that can only help in securing a future for it.  

   After all the sunshine, the pouring sometime torrential rain and thunder seem to match a mood I hope won't last any longer than the storm...