The 2015 Green Festival, organised by independent charity Peterborough Environment City Trust, will include a fantastic arts element in order to showcase sustainability issues in innovative and engaging ways.
Local poet Keely Mills has been commissioned to travel all the buses in Peterborough, writing poetry inspired by the journeys she takes and the people she meets and highlighting the routes that keep the heart of the city pumping.
This work will then be recorded into a sound installation with the help of Beat This. Many of the voices used to record the work will not be performers but will include ex-bus drivers and passengers. This sound installation will be played in several places during the festival week and online. So keep your eyes open for a poet on a bus and your ears ready for the recorded results where you least expect it.
“If you had said to me that I would like the place I live in more by travelling on all of its bus routes I might have laughed a little, but this project is doing that,” explains Keely. “I am a Peterborough girl born and bred but I am learning so much about the city. I have only six routes left to do now and I can't wait to see what they bring and, if I can, I might sneak some other routes in too!”
This year’s festival, sponsored by Travelchoice and with funding from the Arts Council and IKEA Distribution, will be based on the theme of sustainable transport. With thanks to Stagecoach for supporting the poetry on the buses project too. For more information and to be kept up to date on the latest event details visit: www.pect.org.uk/ GreenFestival. Join in the conservation online @SustainableCity with #PECTGreenFestival.
Be a recording star!
Would you like to work with professional sound producers? Would you like to read out poems that will be heard by crowds of people? Would you like to be a recording star?
If it’s a yes to any of the above then prepare to be part of an exciting poetry project. Keely Mills is the poet in residence for all buses in Peterborough from March until May 2015, writing poetry inspired by the journeys she takes and the people she meets.
This is where we need recording stars; all of this poetry needs to be recorded and Keely wants real voices of Peterborough to be involved. So you don't need to be a poet or a performer, just someone who wants to try something different and be part of an exciting project.
If you would like to get involved then please contact Keely on 07790 275382 or [email protected]. Please keep these dates and times free if you want to be involved: 21 April from 6pm-8pm & 23 April from 10am-12noon.