Naseem Khan CBE approached me recently and asked if Poet in the City could support a schools placement forming part of the Arnold Circus regeneration scheme in East London. Naseem, an important architect of the UK’s multicultural arts policy, spent seven years as Head of Diversity for Arts Council England. As Chair of the Friends of Arnold Circus she is an active champion of the regeneration scheme.
Arnold Circus is a small park with a Victorian bandstand, situated in the London borough of Hackney. After years of neglect the bandstand had fallen into dilapidation and become associated with drug use and antisocial behaviour. Two years ago a campaign was launched to reclaim the park for the community and to regenerate the area. Thanks to a financial support from Tower Hamlets and others the bandstand has been restored and is once again featuring music and other live performance.
Virginia Primary School is close to Arnold Circus, in an area of social and economic deprivation. 94% of the pupils are of Bangladeshi origin, and many of them do not have English as a first language. Naseem was very keen to introduce the children to the park and to teach them something about the history of the area.
Enter Poet in the City. Thanks to the support of Lloyd’s of London and Arts & Business we have been able to fund visits to Virginia Primary School over 7 weeks, commencing in November. The work is being delivered by Poet in the City through its partner Learning Through The Arts (LTTA). The placement will feature the poet Coral Rumble, with guest appearances by Shamim Azad, a well-known local poet and storyteller, originally from Bangladesh, who writes in both English and Bengali.
We are delighted to be able to support this enormously worthwhile project. What better way than poetry to bring Arnold Circus back to life at the heart at the local community.
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