Hear from our artists!
Check out our curated YouTube playlists, including original Blackbox videos showcasing the best spoken word artists in the UK. Get the latest insights on the spoken word scene with our blogs from artists and producers. And combine contemporary writing and current affairs with our podcasts.
-
The Power of Music: Aoife Mannix
‘The Walking Shadows’ is the first libretto I’ve ever written. It was performed at St Martin in the Fields on October 30th 2018 alongside Mozart’s Requiem, one of my favourite pieces of music. It was composed byStephen McNeff to mark the hundredth anniversary of the First World War. ‘For me, the sound of the words…
-
It’s All in the Blend : Gina Sherman
5 poets to know…… (Well, actually 10) I’ve curated a list of 5 performance poetry shows (from within the last 5 years!) that blend with other art forms wonderfully well. The influence of other art forms on performance poetry is vast and diverse and mouth-wateringly rich, so picking 5 that combine art forms really well was…
-
Kenny Baraka: Lessons Learnt with the Young Makers
Lessons Learnt with the Young Makers Writer, performer, and facilitator Kenny Baraka looks back on our recent project with Young Makers’ Agency in Downham, Lewisham. Throughout this year-long project, Funded by Phoenix Housing, Kenny helped develop a group of aspiring lyricists and MCs. While doing the quarterly “spring” cleaning of my laptop (you know: sifting…
-
Nicky Crabb: When did it become curriculum versus creativity, rather than a creative curriculum?
Senior Producer, Nicky Crabb, discusses the importance, and struggle, of keeping creativity in our schools as pressures on exam results forever increase… When did it become curriculum versus creativity, rather than a creative curriculum? Apples and Snakes’ patron and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen recently wrote in one of his brilliant blogs: ‘our school…
-
Poems from SPINE 2018: Erin Bolens
As part of SPINE Festival 2018 I led workshops in nine libraries across London with children aged seven to eleven. We explored the themes of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ in these sessions. In each session we looked at what ‘home’ means, where and when you can feel at home and our sensory responses to the concept….
-
Hansika Jethani: Reflections on Rallying Cry
In October 2018, Apples and Snakes took over Battersea Arts Centre, bringing together an incredible group of established and emerging artists for Rallying Cry, an immersive spoken word show directed by Rob Watt. We’re extremely grateful to theErnest Hecht Charitable Foundation for supporting the project and enabling us to present the Ernest Hecht Award for…
-
Spoken Word: An Education
I have been a Spoken Word Educator for three years. Each year has been different, any teacher will profess that no two years are the same. In my first year working in schools it was a concern that my voice as a poet would be compromised as I adapted to teaching in mainstream education. But…