Ilkley Literature Festival is delighted to announce that the first tranche of Legacy Trust UK funding has been agreed for Stanza Stones, an imaginative 21 month project in collaboration with leading poet, Simon Armitage.
The Stanza Stones project, which will be officially launched at the Festival on 9 October and will run until June 2012, is part of the imove programme which celebrates and challenges the relationship between people and their moving bodies through a series of exciting and innovative arts project across Yorkshire. Inspired by London 2012, imove is funded by Legacy Trust UK, Yorkshire Forward and Arts Council England.
The project will centre on a new poem specially written by Simon Armitage and inspired by his response to the wild landscape of the Pennine Watershed and the relationship between the landscape and language of Yorkshire. This poem will act as a springboard for groups of young writers aged from 13-25 years from both rural areas and the cities of West, South and North Yorkshire. The students will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to undergo master classes with Armitage, create their own work and meet up and experience the outdoors as a group. It is hoped that (depending on funding) later stages of the project will offer young dancers and film makers the opportunity to interpret the poems through their medium and will see Armitage’s poem inscribed on a series of Stanza Stones, forming a permanent trail across the Watershed which runs from the Festival’s base in Ilkley to Armitage’s home town, Marsden.
Festival Director Rachel Feldberg, commented: “We are thrilled that this project has awarded funding as part of the imove programme. It’s an opportunity to work closely with one of the UK’s most important and inspiring poets, a huge boost for all young people who love writing and a tribute to the development work we, and our partner organisations, have been doing with teenagers. Simon is passionate about the connection between the landscape and language of Yorkshire and he feels strongly that writing is one of the most accessible art forms, all you need is time and opportunity and something to write with."
Tessa Gordziejko, Creative Programmer for London 2012 and Creative Director for imove, said: “We are very excited that this project with Simon Armitage will form part of the imove programme, which is about transforming our relationship with our moving bodies, using the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a driver.
"Yorkshire writers past and present have a special relationship with the Pennine landscape and expressed through words the physical experience of being a part of it. Working with Ilkley Literature Festival, imove is delighted to commission a stellar Yorkshire writer to inspire young people in creating a legacy which will be both an ongoing experience and a lasting part of our landscape and heritage for generations to come."
Ilkley Literature Festival will get the project off to a flying start in October with a strand celebrating ‘Words, Land and Landscape’ that will include events with archaeologist Francis Pryor and geologist Richard Fortey and a taster session for teenagers interested in being involved in Stanza Stones via a new weekly group for young writers group.
After the Festival, members of the public will be able to follow the project and try out some of the ideas online at the Festival website www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk.
