http://www.rapnrhymers.com
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I have been running poetry projects inside and outside educational settings for over 20 years now. I can work with children and adults of all ages and abilities, tailoring performances and workshops to suit all participants.
My remit is to support participants as they discover their own poetic voice. I've worked with whole classes as well as small groups and one-on-ones. My poetry projects are all run under the name of Rap'n'Rhyme and I have a website dedicated to the work I have done in this area, demonstrating the outcomes achieved in school, science festivals, music festivals and charity settings. I have worked with people from 4 to 106yrs old and many of the poems produced are astonishing. I have also worked with refugee and migrant communities, working across language barriers to support people in expressing themselves in English, something that is immensely valuable to people who are adopting the UK as their home. Lots of the language they acquire is function-based language, but it is so important for mental health to be able to talk creatively about one's inner life, thoughts and feelings. Many participants have expressed how important it has been to use poetry to create a legacy work that enables them to talk to younger generations of their families about their life journeys and sense of identity. Poetry lends itself to this perfectly as it creates a platform where writer and audience can meet and look at the words, which talk of difficult issues, but from an alternative perspective; not head-on, which can create pain and trauma, but from a sideways place that enables people to approach the subject mater more gently. I have also worked with visually impaired elderly participants at Blind Veterans UK, who used the project to create reminiscent works that enabled them to share stories from their pasts. I have developed relationships with local partners in Brighton, including Brighton Pavilion, Jubilee Library and Brighton University. My project participants have used the buildings and contents of the Brighton Museum and Booth Museum to inspire poetry, which has then been animated by year 2 illustration students at Brighton University. Children's poems have also been exhibited alongside artefacts and art inside the Museums. The animations are available to view on the www.rapnrhymers.com website. I have enjoyed compiling, editing and occasionally illustrating books to celebrate 6 of these projects, one of which was illustrated by Chris Riddell, who was Children's Laureate at the time. Chris volunteered his illustration skills to support my project. He was glowing in his endorsement of my work. I have been told that I am one of the best poetry facilitators in the South East and pre-covid I had secured funding from Arts Council England for three years running to expand and extend my projects. For an extensive look at the types of projects I have run and many of the poems that have been written please go to: http://www.rapnrhymers.com |