Welcome to ‘We Own It’, a project that aims to increase confidence in young people’s ability to write and help them to see that their stories are unique and valuable and that they have a claim on their environment. It will help them see that their daily lives are more extraordinary than they might have imagined.
Free poetry workshops for students aged 9-21!
- Session 1 delivered in term 5 by award winning poet Matt Bryden.
- Session 2 delivered in term 6 by TYCA’s own Jackie Clementines.
Follow up opportunities for selected work to become part of an international artist twinning programme and high profile showcase event as part of the World Art Games at Taunton Together Arts Festival 2025!
An opportunity not to be missed!
A local and international collaboration between the World Art Games, Taunton Town Council, Somerset Literacy Network, the Creative Innovation Centre (CICCIC), TYCA Festival and writer and teacher Matt Bryden*.
The project aims to increase confidence in young people’s ability to write as well as help them to see that their stories are unique and valuable and that they have a claim on their environment. It will also help them see that their daily lives are more extraordinary than they might have imagined.
There are two threads to the poetry programme:
- Thread 1 – In term 5, Matt will visit a number of schools and colleges in the Taunton area, delivering free workshops to children and young adults aged 9 to 21 (Creative writing CPD workshops will also be offered to teachers). The workshops are designed to facilitate writing that stakes a claim in the place we call home – the walks and smells and feel of our neighbourhoods. In term 6, Jackie Clementines, Artistic Director of TYCA, will deliver performance workshops to help students present this work to an audience effectively.
- Thread 2 – English students will swap their daily experiences with those of students from other countries, recording them visually as maps before recounting the tales of their new penfriends’ lives in expressive writing. These accounts will then be posted onto a Google map hosted on a website which will also feature an instructional video guiding teachers who wish to include their students in this project.
The best pieces of work will be entered into a competition, with winning writers able to present their work at the CICCIC and perform their work in the presence of the mayor as part of the Taunton Together festival in October. All winning writers will be given the chance to participate in a further small group session to prepare before the performance.
- World Art Games is an international arts organisation providing artists with a network around the world in support of their personal development and friendship
- CICCIC is an independent art centre and organisation supporting and promoting the arts and creative practice in the community.
- TYCA Festival is a Taunton-based youth arts project empowering local young people to access the arts from the point of first engagement through to professional practice.
- Matt Bryden is a prize-winning poet. His most recent publication won the Live Canon pamphlet prize in 2022. He is Royal Literary Fellow at the University of Exeter and co-hosts Exeter’s Uncut Poets series. www.mattbrydenpoetry.co.uk
Sign Up Your School or College Today
If you would like to chat to our project lead Matt Bryden, get more information or sign-up, simply fill in the form below: