Winchester Poetry Festival brings the city to life with poetry at its biennial festival. This year, we’re doing things a little differently. As the city begins to recover from the effects of pandemic, we want to use poetry to rejuvenate the city centre and to spread joy, understanding and a shared love of our city. 

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Poet on the High Street will work with schools, young people and the community at large to inspire creativity and to animate the city centre with poetry throughout the summer. They will produce poems for display in shop windows and public spaces throughout the city, hold workshops and readings, and celebrate Winchester’s hidden heritage through poetry. 

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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we were unable to deliver the 2020 festival, but we can’t wait to deliver it this year instead – online and in person in Winchester. 

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Why we're crowdfunding now

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In the wake of the pandemic, we all want to play our part in the city’s recovery. Animating the streets and city centre through poetry is our contribution to that recovery – not only economic, but social and personal – inspiring creativity and enhancing public spaces, sharing language and experience, and speaking to people in a unique way.

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We want to focus on the social aspect of poetry, running workshops and events to bring people together, but we also want to look at our city’s history. Winchester has weathered some significant storms in the past and is full of hidden histories – the stories revealed by street names and shop signs, people’s memories and photos. Poetry uses close observation, imagination and memory, so it’s a great way to explore history, place and identity, and to help us understand our city better. 

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What the money raised will do:

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We are fundraising to appoint a Poet in Residence. Our aim is to bring poetry to the streets of Winchester, inspire creativity, and explore the city’s hidden heritage through powerful and playful poetry.

 

Funds raised will cover the writer’s fee and expenses, an operating budget to enable us to run events, publishing and marketing costs, and admin support for the Poet in Residence. 

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Your donation will make a difference! Whilst we have the support of Winchester BID and the Town Forum, we can’t achieve our target without public support. Please help us to make it happen!