NEWCASTLE: Cassoulette

Tuesday, 8th March, 2011, FREE
Newcastle City Library,
Bewick Hall

You are invited to a day celebrating women’s experiences through poetry and performance...

‘Undergrowth’ by Cassoulette - International Women’s Day,

Join Cassoulette, a team of three performance poets, in a series of creative workshops culminating in a public performance built from shared words and stories. Come to all three workshops, or just one, or join us for the final performance – it’s all free.

9.30am - 11.00am ‘Start to write and feel better’ is led Pj Buchanan.

This workshop aims to encourage women to write and looks at ways that can stimulate that writing, which in turn improves well-being. No previous experience in writing is required. The emphasis of this workshop is on the individual and unlocking stories and poetry that lie within. At the end of the workshop each participant will have poem or prose piece that can be read in the evening.

11.30am – 1.00pm ‘Story Quilting’ is led by Ah’freee.

This is a dynamic group workshop where participants are encouraged to tell a joint story based on African tradition where storytelling is synonymous with song, chant, music, or epic poetry in the bardic or ‘griot’ traditions. At the end of the session the group will have ‘quilted’ their stories together to form one whole, which can be performed as a group in the evening.

2.00pm – 3.30pm ‘Giving Voice’ is led by Sky Hawkins.

Sky is passionate about finding ways to improve women’s confidence, especially those women who have been marginalised. The focus of the workshop is on self-expression and Sky will be drawing on her background in drama to encourage participants to make their voices heard. This energetic workshop will involve the use of video, make-up, hats and masks. At the end of this session participants will be ready to take to the stage during the evening if they choose

4.00 – 4.30pm ‘Undergrowth’ - performance of the work created during the day

The performance is open to all

Cassoulette is a collaborative project - each of the poets brings her own life experience to the project; Sky Hawkins is a single mum living on a Newcastle council estate, Poetry Jack (Pj Buchanan) is lesbian and an older woman, and Radikal Queen (Ah’freee Being) is a black woman with African roots. In their own distinctive ways all three poets assert the power of womanhood and invite other women to speak up. Cassoulette means ‘scent of a woman’. www.cassoulette.co.uk