NOTT POETRY : Stories that show our courage
NOTT ART promotional images
In late 2021, we gave our young creatives taking part in Creative Futures, work placement programme focussing on Nottingham talent, a brief to design and deliver an event based on one of Collaborative Future’s values they most strongly relate to. While we started with connection and the NOTT ART event, we went on to focus on courage..
The meaning of courage..
.. for Collaborative Future?
We take risks in the pursuit of economic justice;
We navigate conflict and uncertainty with confidence;
We create opportunities for people to share their stories;
.. for our young Notts creatives?
Considering what we are scared of
Creating a space for healing and growing of confidence
Developing your own personal intergrity
The event
Throuh NOTT POETRY : Stories that show our courage, we celebrated Nottingham people and businesses by creating a space to connect, and share stories that have given us courage and brought us through tough times. In this event, through interactive activities we collectively voiced and translated our words to gain more of an understanding of our own and others lived experiences. At the end, each individual left with a piece of poetry, as rough or polished as they wanted it to be, to celebrate and remind them of their victories no matter how big or small.
“One thing I am taking away from tonight is connection, vulnerabilities, swapping stories and trust.”
The poems
foreign tongue
looking back
speaking was never easy
speaking language:
getting it wrong.
what was wrong
with being wrong?
more to come
courage to pull away from what no long serves me
scary but courageous! difficult experience
influenced me to realize my own potential
if we hold ourselves steady we can see things in new lights and have the power to create new life
a step like a leap in faith!
not all can be experienced in youth
there’s still more to come later on
-relief
being the centre of the room
embracing opportunities to speak
fucking amazing!!! i like this!
it was fucking amazing! she said
all i could hear through the fog + the noise
you used the courage inside of you
there in the mist of thought as I speak
i go first
still
being the centre of the room
i am the song
being stuck is the danger
‘toxic’ / ‘faults’ parts of your story
music. I am the song
of this writing to be
full of disonant. chords
@ 1st then resolving
beautifully.
no chance to grow
best version of myself.
test to my confidence.
realizing potential + character progression
why wait
why wait?
time waits on no-one. Safety, confirmation, certainty?
why wait? what is ready?
what is courage?
waves of inspiration looking late windows through reinvented self
we could wait our whole life to start living or we could write our travels, and dreams into reality.
is time part of yourself or does one create time within?
i see the courages + resilience traveling on your own
couragous act of self love + appriciation
things that we must do
reflective perspective
look, be, just be
to celebrate yourself by yourself
don’t wait, just communicate
a life set out on expectations
a box made for me by me
expectationd
who is imposing them?
step outside
before + after ? …
a collaborative by the corner table
shouts
could you talk more about what you overcame?
did you have any doubts?
or
did you have faith
after the ordeal?
were you worried if your friend will follow?
will it be instinct, courage or bravery the next time someone shouts
HELP!!!
cosmic power
encouragement is tough as one soul by themselves yet through connections with another opens up possibility
i literally felt the wall caving and all that was life
was this woman
this cosmic power
and this beautiful connection
forming each other water
connectivity, an expanding universe of love
bright vibrant particles exploding
receipt
a receipt for my memories
bright & happy time
long nights
finding yourself?
hedonistic bliss
waiting
i’ve been very much behind a beautiful curtain metaphor or corner (?) for the longest of times.
i’m now realizing waiting is lost potential.
amazon
lost?
mindfulness?
represent different paths
trials
jibberish?
understandable?
amazon - peace ? / closer to nature
rewarding?
high on life.
brain, you psycho bubble
what even is courage?
said the hungry caterpillar
is it:
authentic conversatins
slowly emerging
being seen
letting someone in
pointless tension
endless relaxatio
why is it so hard brain?
testing me you psycho bubble.
shared
what do other think?
be true to my love
opening up!
kindness
self care
be kind to myself
a friendship once sunken now raised
much of a cliche! what is wrong with a good cliche?
courage is
a frog
dancing between form
a perspective
SPIRITUALLY BANKRUPT
i’m spiritually bankrupt
fuuuuuck..!! self expression
(it took bloody ages!)
entertainment
just st.. aying alive
what next?!
deady silent
but valuable
arrrrrr
respect
looking back
fork in the road
i chose
being alone
with myself
a new journey
wonderful human
walking
longing for something
i trust
i am worth
respect
At the end of the event, we asked all attendees to complete the below sentence.
One thing I am taking away from tonight is..
“..that being with other brains is useful!”
”..that being creative together is scary but fun.”
”..really enjoyed this poetry workshop, especially with helping wake creativity with people! 100% coming to the next one!
”..sharing new experiences with my loved ones.”
”..friendly faces, a new poem, a good time. Thank you very much!”
”..copy of the poem, new friends, that courage starts with action, interesting stories.”
”..to keep embracing new experiences + growing more courageous”
The organisers
The creatives who ran NOTT POETRY event - Taylor and Casey
With support from the Collaborative Future’s Community Advocates Sonia and Prisca, a couple of young Nottingham creatives - poet and spoken word artist Taylor Riley, multimedia artist Casey Soma - collaborated to plan, organise and facilitate this experience.
Having been involved in organising NOTT ART, Taylor wanted to bring his learnings of the previous event, marrying them with his passion of poetry and the art of writing. Casey’s aim was to contribute ideas and share feedback on the workshop structure itself and how engaging and understandable the activities were. Through the event, we saw beautiful growth happen for both our cohort members, for example, we saw one person stand in front of a large group of people, welcoming them into the space, setting a positive vibe and talking with warmth and inspiration.
As with any event and happening, there’s also a lot of learnings that took place at NOTT POETRY for both our team and the cohort. We all took time to look back and think about what we enjoyed, learnt, found challenging or would change for next time:
“I learned that I CAN MAKE DREAMS INTO REALITY. A YEAR AGO I WAS DREAMING ABOUT DOING EVENTS such as this, AND NOW I WAS ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY AND MAKE IT HAPPEN. AND HOW IT BEEN AND GONE. I ALSO LEARNED FROM SPEAKING TO THE ATTENDEES THAT MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING (ONLINE AND HARD COPY) IS THE ONE, AND IT’S SOMETHING I WILL do FOR MY FUTURE POETRY EVENTS. I now KNOW what is needed to make an event happen, and have lists of PLACES TO HIT WITH MARKETING TOO.”
“i REALLY ENJOYED SEEING THE GROWTH, CONFIDENCE AND CREATIVITY OF THE ATTENDEES - FROM SOMEONE JOINING THE EVENT AND NOT BEING SURE WHAT THEY WILL CONTRIBUTE, IF ANYTHING - TO SEEING THEM SHARE THEIR STORY, THEN MOVING ONTO CRAFTING THE FINAL POEM AND LEAVING WITH SOMETHING SO INSPIRING. tHIS WAS SUCH A REWARDING EXPERIENCE THAT I WANT TO FACILITATE FOR MORE PEOPLE.”
“ALTHOUGH I DIDN’T PARTICIPATE ON THE NIGHT, I REALLY ENJOYED BEING AROUND PEOPLE, AND HEARING THEIR FEEDBACK ABOUT MY OWN POEM MADE ME VERY EMOTIONAL AND I FELT SEEN.”
Intrigued?
We would love to run similar events within other communities and organisations, if you’re interested in fostering collaboration and storytelling through creativity, drop us an email via hello@collaborativefuture.co.uk