RUPERT HOPKINS: EDUCATION ACTION ZONE
Well I've run some poetry workshops myself, but I got wind of a bit of news last week that I thought was worth sharing: Rupert Hopkins has just been awarded a contract to work as poet in residence in a local inner-city primary school in Bristol for one day a week during September and October (primary school: 4-11 yrs). He will be working with one group of children with the aim of creating a performance for the EAZ Festival, which takes place on October 12th.

Now Rupert's a highly experienced poet with a bunch of international miles under his belt, so I'm not just here to congratulate him on getting the job. What I love is Rupert's take on the project. In his own words:

“My concept for the five days in the school is to look at haiku and rap poetry and see if the class can create a series of haiku raps, as well as teaching them a little about Japanese culture and looking at similarities between the code of the samurai warrior and rap culture. I also will be bringing in visiting poets and using sound and visual material during this period.”

Last summer Rupert received a Year of the Artist award to create two billboards for the side of a dustcart (garbage truck). Working with artist Richard Heley from London, he created a 180-degree photomontage of a Roman amphitheatre with Rupert's prose poem, “The Waste Warriors,” printed on top. This formed an 8 x 4 foot panel, which was then attached to the side of the dustcart. The second board contained more of “The Waste Warriors” against full-length photos of the Dustmen, including Rupert from his Dustman days back in the late 60's.

I also believe Rupert was seen producing poetry on early morning school buses as part of the Bath Literature Festival. For more info on his sundry poetic activities, email Rupert at ruperthopkins@lineone.net. He has many irons in many fires, including a gig with Thom the World Poet at the Bristol Poetry Festival (see below).

Here is a short extract from “The Waste Warriors.” I've read the whole work and would really love to see it produced as a poetry-play of some sort. I wouldn't mind learning the lines.

The Waste Warriors, unspoken heroes, regular as clockwork, battling with the elements, doing early morning sweeps of narrow winding Cotswold lanes besides the grassed slopes of the Roman amphitheatre, a stone's throw away from the beehive warren offices of the dustcart depot where their ghosts clutch legionnaire banners and flightless gold crested eagles glistening in the cool Celtic summer breeze. Caught in gladiatorial combat, the clash of blue steel echoes as the blood lust crowd roars, giving the thumbs down while on this cloudy summer day the stoics are put through strident paces sprinting up and down the well worn grassed slopes yelling out in Liverpudlian slang “You alright mate?,” trotting around the arena at half throttle, as the combatant forces the lion into submission and the afternoon sunlight casts shadows across the church tower.

BRISTOL POETRY FESTIVAL: A NEW LOOK
The Poetry Can (Bristol and Bath Poetry Development Agency) has taken an unusual yet intelligent step into a new age of poetry festival funding. The funding received from Bristol City Council, South West Arts, etc. for the Agency's upkeep barely covers administration and office supplies and The Can has to spend much of this administrative time raising the rest of the funding needed to produce the Bristol Poetry Festival each October (4-14th October, 2001).

The Festival has blossomed over the last three years. From a public perspective (and therefore in the eyes of our few corporate sponsors) it is now an exciting, first class, internationally renowned event: something that we can be proud of whether we are lovers of poetry or not. This success has, however, raised questions as to where we should go from here, with the biggest concerns centering on where the funds get spent. The Festival program features famous published poets (of the Waterstone's and Barnes and Noble ilk), booked and funded through the Poetry Can, as well as local poets putting on their own shows or highlighting existing weekly and monthly events as “festival specials” with any overheads or losses coming straight out of the poets' own pockets. It has become an event much larger than the Poetry Can could ever find enough time or money for on its own, and unfortunately it has always seemed that the big name poets (usually from out of town) were being paid to play big venues whilst local poetry received very little funding whatsoever. So thank you to The Poetry Can for listening to our concerns, and here goes Bristol Poetry Festival 2001:

The Festival schedule gets cut from 3½ weeks to 10 days. The Poetry Can suggested 5-7 days (most literary festivals of this type run 5-7 days). We asked them to include two weekends. They agreed.

The Poetry Can has secured at least one major venue (The Arnolfini) for most of the Festival events and is looking for a second space to accommodate the large number of events planned.

Local poets and promoters tendered applications for funding for events during the Festival period. Suggested tenders were between $300-$1200 (£200-£800). A selection panel is currently interviewing applicants before making the final allocation of funding and performance space to fill the Festival program.

Two worrying questions come immediately to mind. Will this make the Festival too commercial; will the panel only pick “bums on seats” events? And what happens to all the other events that don't get chosen? The first one seems unlikely. Although balancing the Festival books is an important consideration, The Can's commitment to accessible venues, care assistants for disabled audience members, signing for the deaf, etc. suggests that they are not a profit-oriented organization. As for the second, being accepted for funding is not a prerequisite for being part of the Festival. As happened in recent years, we expect any event that happens during the Festival dates to find its way into the Poetry Can's program and promotional material. These events could be marked as “Fringe,” showing them some special consideration in the Festival program, designating them as independent and un-funded. Anyway, it's not really a festival until it's got a fringe.

The Poetry Can has, in effect, offered to pay us (the local poets) to run a large part of the Bristol Poetry Festival. They are beginning to believe in our ideas and trust in our experience. More importantly, this shows a growing respect for the quality of Bristol's homegrown poetry and promoters, which I would happily match against any Great Britain, or the world, has to offer.

There is no doubt that local poets and poetry have been highlighted at the Festival in the past, but for the first time it feels like they are being “presented” at the 2001 Festival, presented at big venues, alongside those big name poets, gaining some of that recognition and respect and just a little of that real warm, soft cash that helps pay the bills at the end of the month.

I would be grateful to receive any comments on this new arrangement at universal.poetry@virgin.net. You can contact The Poetry Can directly through their Web site.

BIP001 SEEKING INTERNATIONAL POETS
Natural Born Promotions is looking for two international poets (i.e., non-UK nationals) to fill its BIP001 (Bristol International Poetry) show at the Bristol Poetry Festival in England in October.

The evening event is currently scheduled for Wednesday, October 10th, and we are expecting a small amount of funding from The Poetry Can (see above). Final decisions on dates and money will not be made until July 10th. Although not yet confirmed for BIP001, I have touring dates for the first two guests and it looks like they will both be in the UK at that time:

• Kevin Patrick Sullivan is a great poet. I've seen him perform in his home town of San Luis Obispo, California and he gets much respect for his 17 years in the business of promoting poetry.
  
  
• Jason Pettus I know only by reputation, but enough good poets have said enough good things about him to get him on the bill. I'm sure he is not unknown to regular Museletter readers.

“I've called this one, 'Walking in a field, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, just outside of Dunnington-Brambwell, Devon,' thank you. 'Walking in a field, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, just outside Dunnington-Brambwell, Devon.' 'I was walking in a field, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, just outside Dunnington-Brambwell in Devon when,....'”

If you are looking for other things to do while you are in the UK, the Cheltenham Literature Festival Slam, “The UK All Comers,” takes place on Friday 12th October. Cheltenham Fest is one of the largest in the UK and The All Comers Slam is probably the UK's biggest annual slam. No large prizes, but good kudos. You'll need to book in early with Marcus Moore (Slam! Productions), as places are limited. Check the rules, as I think Marcus uses a 2-minute time limit. Also on 13-14th October, Richard Heley (Planet Earth Beat) will be running the 2nd Paddington International Arts Festival in London. The festival runs at Richard's venue over the weekend and last year featured nearly a dozen US poets. The numbers are likely to be slightly reduced this year in order to give each poet a little more time on stage and a slightly larger share of the proceeds.

I hope that some of the poets that are booked for BIP001 will go on to feature at Richard's show in London and other shows (perhaps the week before or the week after) may come available as time goes on, but I cannot guarantee anything other than the bookings that I make for the traveling poets. Poets will be well cared for while in Bristol and well paid for their performance, but payment should not be a primary concern. For Kevin and Jason, BIP001 neatly coincides with a trip they are already committed to taking, and poets should consider this when making an application.

I will finish by saying that although we are only intending to “fund and feature” four international poets, everyone is welcome at the Bristol Festival and especially at the BIP2001 event. If you've come a long way to be there, we will find you a place to lay your traveling head and we will find you at least some space to perform. There's at least one weekly open mic, an All Night Instant Anthology Reading and the monthly “Verscity Slam” happening in Bristol sometime during the Festival dates, 4-14th of October. The slam is open to anyone, uses National Slam rules and is likely to have a prize of up to $150 (£100).

So send me some stuff. No poems, no pictures (just yet), just a brief personal biography and a list of some of the shows you've already done. Remember, your resume doesn't have to be long to be impressive and you don't have to have played the big venues to be the best.

Speak again soon,

Tim Gibbard