Poetry Ireland to Appoint a Second Poet in Residence
It is through collaborative partnerships that Poetry Ireland ensures a meaningful focus on supporting artists, developing, and promoting contemporary practice. The partnership with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation and DCU to develop Poetry Ireland’s next, two-year Poet in Residence programme will forge new creative relationships in the neighbourhood in the North East Inner City and beyond. This follows Poetry Ireland’s highly successful, inaugural PIR the poet and ballad enthusiast Catherine Ann Cullen.
Poetry Ireland’s temporary neighbourhood takes in the rich tapestry of the DCU campus itself as well as nearby cultural infrastructure. Poetry Ireland will continue to embrace the various geographical communities and communities of interest in the north of the city.
Poetry Ireland, in collaborating with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation and DCU, with the support of the Arts Council, is strengthening these important relationships in 2023/24.
Located in Poetry Ireland’s new neighbourhood consisting of the DCU campus and its environs, the 2023/24 newly appointed Poet in Residence will interact across the University, its community, and the wider neighbourhood in which the University is embedded and which it reaches, as well having a wider remit to the whole country. The focus is a strategic and multidisciplinary.
Considerations
The Brinkerhoff Foundation, DCU and Poetry Ireland share common themes and interests which will inform the work of the 2023/24 Poet in Residence:
Climate Change – the environment, poetry, and the potential to shape the conversation around climate change
Children’s Literature and Song – a collaboration with DCU Institute of Education
A Patient is a Poem – the medical humanities, the nuances of language and expression, using literature in medical training
Coded Language – poetry, technology, and the common ground in between.
The locality of the North East Inner City
Collaboration with artists of other disciplines e.g. digital, visual arts, theatre, dance, music
Targeting Communities
The Poet in Residence is a vital role within Poetry Ireland’s broader Neighbourhood Programme; a programme which, to date, looked closely at how best to connect people and poetry in the north inner city. Within a short distance of our new DCU offices live the most diverse communities in Dublin while just north of the DCU campus, Ballymun is home to the Axis Arts Centre a creative hub with which Poetry Ireland aims to connect and engage.
Job Specification
The poet in residence programme will run for 2 years from March 2023. This is a part time role with time built in for the poet to engage in their own creative work alongside engaging and interacting with both the public, and those with an interest in writing themselves. The PIR will work closely with the PI team and will work mostly from home with weekly meetings required and prescheduled.
The total hours per week would be 10 to include three hours own writing time for the poet in residence.
Flexibility will be required around contract hours, particularly with community, schools and families and payments will be made on a monthly basis. Clear goals and objectives will be agreed in advance between the Poet and Poetry Ireland including an agreed programme of work, a timetable (which may be subject to change), and an overall theme for the residency, if appropriate.
In practical terms, the Poet in Residence will attend meetings with Poetry Ireland at DCU so that the role has a visible presence. The Poet in Residence will develop their own schedule led by their own expertise, through a collaborative dialogue with the Poetry Ireland team.
The role involves a commitment of 10 hours per week which may include three hours dedicated to their own creative work. Part of the engagement will also involve collaboration with other poets and artists. It is important to note that flexibility will be required around a timetable of contact hours, particularly with schools and families.
Reporting to Poetry Ireland, your programme of activities will include:
-Poetry workshops for school groups including performance workshops
-Masterclasses for school groups
-Storytelling and Reader in Residence Sessions for families and/or school groups
-Establishment of a Grandparent and Toddler Group
-Poetry workshops for adults
-Masterclasses for adults
-Structured one-to-one mentoring sessions for individuals
-Some public readings
-Public reading events for some of those who participate in masterclasses
-Development of the poet’s own work, drawing inspiration from the north inner city. This may include some commissions for Poetry Day, Culture Night etc.
Payment
A fee of €20,000 per annum plus vouched expenses will be paid. A budget of €5000 per years is available specifically for project development.
Strategies for ongoing monitoring, review and evaluation will also be planned and agreed in advance with the poet in residence and any other artists with whom the poet may wish to work.
All necessary permissions with school managements and Garda Vetting will be in place before any work is carried out with children and young people, particularly in the case of visiting/collaborating artists
Applications in writing to director@poetryireland.ie by 5.00pm on February 24th with an expectation of the residency commencing in March 2023.
Applicants will be asked to submit:
-Resume
-Examples of work
-Publications, programmes or published articles, such as reviews
-A proposal outlining artistic ideas and approaches (two typed pages); this should include an outline of the benefits of the residency to her/his stage of development as a writer, and ideas in relation to public engagement during the residency with detailed suggestions for workshops or public/community engagement
-Interviewees may also be required to make a presentation outlining their vision for the role
-The names of two referees
Selection criteria
-Essential: Prior experience working in a broad range of educational and community settings
-Suitability of the proposal to the context
-Prior experience delivering creative writing workshops
-Previous published work
-Flexibility with regard to timetabling