Hello everyone! I’m writing to share some big news: this weekend Loud Poets launched a Patreon campaign! If you’ve not heard of Patreon, it’s an excellent crowdfunding platform which allows supporters to pledge regular contributions to artists they appreciate. This gives these artists a more sustainable income (in oppose to one-off crowdfunding campaigns which are tied to single projects), which can be a huge help given the usually unstable prospect of arts funding and project fees.

Loud Poets have been working for the past three years to provide a platform for spoken word in Scotland through organising monthly showcases in Edinburgh and Glasgow, writing solo and collaborative pieces, working with musicians and filmmakers on innovative projects, and touring within the UK and internationally. We’ve done all of this so far with no funding, just ticket revenue, project fees, and merchandise sales. However, we’re now working to pay our artists what they deserve and to become a more sustainable organisation so that we can continue doing this work long into the future. We also want to push the limits of our creative practices by making more innovative, professionally produced videos for our poems and sharing them online freely and accessibly to folks who can’t access our live shows.

If you’re interested in learning more about this work, and about the rewards for patrons who support it, you can check out our campaign by following this link to our Patreon page. There’s a launch video that explains the work we’re planning to do and how you can be a part of it. We’re also running a special competition where folks who sign up before Saturday can win the chance to commission a new poem, so if you’re interested do check that out. Huge thanks to everyone whose supported us thus far; we can’t wait to bring you more poetry! – Katie