Poetry and Young People Project

Photo of 2009’s Foyle Young Poets of the Year. Reproduced with the permission of The Poetry Society. Photograph by Hayley Madden.

The Poetry and Young People Project is an initiative that aims to engage more young people in poetry reading, writing and performance and attract new audiences to the art form.

The Motion Report

'The Motion Report: Poetry and Young People', which was published in 2010, makes recommendations about how to coordinate long-term changes in the poetry sector, to generate more opportunities for reading and writing poetry and to build young audiences across the country.

Recommendations include improving teacher training around poetry, supporting more writers to engage effectively in work with young people, and making poetry more accessible to young people through an improvement in the digital offer.

The Report was created for the poetry sector as a whole – its supporters, funders and audiences, and writers. The Review Group’s vision of the future is one in which young people in all areas of the UK are able to enjoy and feel stimulated and challenged by a high quality engagement with poetry both in and out of school.

Download the full report (.pdf 3.4Mb)

Background

A Review Group of specialist advisors and creative practitioners – chaired by Sir Andrew Motion – was set up in 2009 to guide the direction of the project. Its members are:

Francesca Beard, poet
Antonia Byatt, Director of Literature Strategy, Arts Council England
Liz Cleaver, Controller – Learning, BBC
Maura Dooley, poet/Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Goldsmiths College, University of London
Dr Sue Horner, arts and education consultant
Andrew Motion, Chair of the Review Group
Paul Roberts, Managing Director, Improvement and Development Agency
William Sieghart, Chairman and Founder, Forward Arts Foundation/National Poetry Day

The project is administered by Booktrust and funded by Arts Council England (ACE).

The Review Group undertook research into poetry provision for young people including how poetry is taught in schools, how they can access it outside school and the work done by specialist literature agencies and writers. It also ran consultations with young people themselves.

The results of this year-long piece of work are published in The Motion Report including recommendations for Arts Council England and for ACE–funded poetry organisations and the wider literature sector.

As a result of its findings the review group awarded two major grants to Creativity, Culture and Education and to The Poetry Society, working with if:book, to develop poetry provision for young people within and outside school respectively.

In Phase one, CCE were awarded £200,000 to coordinate a consortium of specialist national and regional organisations, higher education partners and creative practitioners to run three regional pilots.

The Poetry Society, working with if:book was awarded £100,000 to develop a Young Poets Network. This aims to engage 5000 young people in poetry via a new web space.

There will be a seminar in autumn 2011 to disseminate good practice and look to the future.

For further information please contact Nikki Marsh at Booktrust.