I went along to the Family Learning Centre in St Paul's for the official launch of Let It Float Away, an anthology of the poetry written by schoolchildren as a result of the project. The atmosphere was lively, with around 50 parents, teachers, children and artists happily demolishing a buffet of Caribbean food. I helped myself to a homemade ginger beer and joined the throng. To help set the mood, local percussion star Alphonse Daudet Touna provided music on his balafon, a wonderfully organic-looking African xylophone.
Jacqui Thomas, from the Bristol Education Action Zone (BrEAZ), began the evening. | "We should be proud of ourselves, and the community, and proud of the young people who are part of our community" | | Sarah Gornall, director of BrEAZ |
Started in September 2000 and serving 24 schools in and around the St Paul’s area, BrEAZ aims to improve pupils' academic achievement, their self-esteem and emotional well-being.
"This book is just one outcome of a very big project that took place in October 2004," Jacqui said. "In November 2003, Rupert Hopkins from Say It Loud came to see me and expressed his concern that there was very little support for schools and young people in terms of being able to celebrate Black History Month."
Say It Loud is a Bristol-based multi-cultural poetry agency with strong links to local and international artists.
"At the time, Say It Loud was arranging for performance poet Glenis Redmond to come over from the US and perform at St. George's," said Jacqui. "That sparked the idea of us working with local and international artists and forming partnerships between artists and schools."
As a result, in October 2004, 14 artists worked in 14 BrEAZ schools. Local artists from Poeticize and the Bristol Black Writers Group, among others, were joined by artists from the United States to help schools explore black history through poetry.
The topics were wide-ranging, from local events such as the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott to historical figures such as Ellen Craft, who in 1848 escaped from slavery by disguising herself as her own white master.
Alongside the historical exploration, the artists helped children write poems.
"For two and a half weeks, hundreds and hundreds of young people were involved in creating some fantastic work." Young poets
Sarah Gornall, director of BrEAZ, stepped up to say her own few words about Let It Float Away.
"This is the fourth poetry book that's been published by pupils from central Bristol schools, many of whom are black."
"I hope we're going to be able to get a wider audience with this book, because it's fantastic. We should be proud of ourselves, and the community, and proud of the young people who are part of our community."
Sarah read her own choice of poem from the anthology, a poem about living confidently, and being inspired.
"I hope that you will think this book is an inspiration. I hope that remembering the books and everything the young people have done here will help them and others to live confidently and I hope that we will all continue to be inspired by our dreams."
Then came the young poets themselves, reading their own work. First up were three girls from Fairfield High School, who had worked with local poet Ros Martin and US poet Mahogany Brown.
The three poems they read were all on the theme of beauty, and they showed a straightforwardness and vibrancy that older poets probably spend years trying to recapture from their own youth.
Although the 'main event' was short, it was wonderful to see these young people reading out their poems to an appreciative audience, and hopefully gaining even more confidence as a result. New funding
Certainly the project as a whole, to inspire and encourage the local pupils, seems to have been very effective.
The Bristol Education Action Zone came to a planned close at the end of March this year, just before the book launch.
Its five year operation has seen the involvement of thousands of pupils, teachers and parents across the Zone, and a significant improvement in exam results and Ofsted reports.
After the event, I spoke to Say It Loud’s Rupert Hopkins. Rupert wants to see the 80-page book spread to a much wider audience than the local area.
"One in every school," he said. "No, two in every school! One for the library, and one for the English department."
Now that BrEAZ has closed down, Rupert is looking for other sources of funding to continue spreading the inspiration of Let It Float Away across the country. |
