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Poetry publisher Penned in the Margins wins £135,000 grant from Arts Council

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The innovative, independent poetry publisher Penned in the Margins has won a three-year grant of £135,000 from Arts Council England. On its website, director Tom Chivers, pictured, said: “This new support (starting 2015) will enable us to make more and better work, reach new and wider audiences, and build a more sustainable organisation for the future … We are looking forward to continuing our support for talented writers and artists, working with cultural partners, and making new work for audiences who are not afraid of taking risks.”

Penned in the Margins began in 2004 as a poetry reading series in a converted railway arch in south London. Also celebrating is the Poetry School, which received a 25% increase in funding. It said the additional funds will enable it to develop a new artistic programme "beyond the classroom", encompassing live events, collaborative projects, and digital activities on its Campus social network. The Poetry School's director, Ollie Dawson, said the new investment would help it focus on "supporting a more connected and diverse poetry community". 

But there was not such good news for the Wordsworth Trust at Grasmere. It lost £80,000 of its annual grant, the Guardian reported. That cash had been used to fund a contemporary literature programme, including poetry readings, a full-time literature officer, and current poet-in-residence Zaffar Kunial.

There was bad news for other poetry organisations, the Bookseller reported, with Manchester-based Commonword among those that have lost National Portfolio status in the latest round of funding. Commonword organises writers' workshops and live events including the Superheroes of Slam. New writing co-ordinator Martin Demello said: "Arts Council England provided the majority of our funding this year."

Commonword's artistic director, Pete Kalu, said: "A scrutiny of our achievements will show incontestably that nobody has engaged with black writers in the north-west better than us. Nobody in the north-west has fostered a youth writing programme that engages with disadvantaged young people better than us. Nobody has built a national community of writers committed to diversity in children’s writing better than us. We have always been a radical organisation, fearlessly addressing the issue of who gets published and why, and unconvinced that the answer is entirely a matter of merit. To do our job well, we have always unflinchingly addressed uncomfortable topics, such as our July 4 2014 Islamophobia and literature conference, run in association with Manchester University. 

"The reasons for our loss of funding? We defied political gravity for a long time, in particular, the Arts Council NPO focus on private donations and private income streams. Commonword has faced and met bigger challenges. We will survive this and will emerge stronger, retaining our belief that giving voice to marginalised communities is in the common good. Our work goes on."

The Poetry Book Society's director, Chris Holifield, said she was "very disappointed" that her organisation's application had been rejected. The Poetry Book Society, which organises the TS Eliot prize, lost its NPO status in 2011 amid a storm of protest led by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. It had applied for regularly funded status once more in the latest round. 

But Bristol-based Poetry Can, which has lost its £15,000 annual funding from Bristol city council, was relieved to hear that its £43,000 Arts Council grant will continue. Poetry Can’s director, Colin Brown, said: “It means that we can cover all our basic costs, but things will be difficult and we will have to fundraise.”

 

 

  

 

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Comments

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Steven Waling

Sat 5th Jul 2014 12:16

Personally I'm pleased. It's about time a publisher & promoter of adventurous poetry got some decent funding. It's little enough compared to opera. They do good books (Adventures in Form is fun.)

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M.C. Newberry

Fri 4th Jul 2014 14:28

Having been accused of being a troll amongst
other things for my posts, I am pleasantly
surprised to find concurring views on the subject
of the financial support for poetry.
WOL is a good example of a shop window for
poetry and we can contribute voluntarily to it
IF we wish to. I have never seen it mentioned
but somehow I doubt if WOL receives an Arts
Council (or any other) subsidy for its admirable
online endeavours. It is as deserving as any
other enterprise in this area of interest.

Russell Thompson

Thu 3rd Jul 2014 11:31

Well done, Tom. Greatly deserved. Looking forward to seeing the programme you deliver.

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Dominic James

Wed 2nd Jul 2014 15:40

I entirely agree with MC's summing up below.

What's more, I get an anti-establishment crick in the neck whenever I come across "gatekeepers" (I believe is the phrase) being set up - be it ever so gently - to lord it over the community at large: which happens all too often with funding from the public purse, in any category of popular interest. Not that private funding guarantees bringing out the best in us...

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M.C. Newberry

Wed 2nd Jul 2014 10:38

I am ambivalent about "funding" from the public
purse for anything that seeks promotion for
what is in basic terms - a business proposition
that provides selective employment - like "poet
in residence" (whatever that means as far as
qualifications and necessity are concerned.)
Are we in danger of losing the perspective that
anything that is worth persuading the public to spend voluntarily is good business, whilst
that which seeks being supported financially
has not achieved that basic requisite in business? I have always funded my own poetic
enterprises, paid my way and expected no
obligation from any source to contribute to my
financial well-being. Other that a grasp of
grammar, sensibility & imagination, poetry
needs no more than a window through which Joe
Public can gaze and invest in the content on
display. This begins in school via the work
of an enlightened teaching prospectus.
I remain wary of providing financial support
for poetry when its participants cannot
persuade people to invest in the product "on
offer" because they want to. Self-publishing
has set an honourable precedent in years past:
why not still? There are ways and means of
getting poetry before the public without going
cap in hand to the public tax-funded coffers.
The Arts Council and others should remain
properly mindful of the use of public money
when the word "art" is adopted as a reason - as
if "by right".

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Frances Spurrier

Tue 1st Jul 2014 15:03

What WOL couldn't do with a bit of funding eh ... ah well. We must be altruistic as ever. Well done Penned in the Margins. Enjoy!

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