Are you a business, shop or cafe? Get involved with poetry!

Huddersfield Literature Festival - Courage Is Poetry Project

Bring footfall to your premises and support the local arts community – at no cost to your business.

Your opportunity to be a part of the Courage Is Poetry Project in conjunction with Huddersfield Literature Festival

Kirklees Council is working hard to improve the town centre of Huddersfield and as part of this Huddersfield District Committee has approved funding for several projects. The Courage Is Poetry Project is one of these, run in conjunction with Huddersfield Literature Festival (HLF), which will take place 4-19 March 2017. In March 2016, The Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary and was chosen as a finalist in the prestigious Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards.

All that is required to participate is space for displaying at least one poem - it's that simple.

The project is sourcing poems from professional poets – such the patron of HLF Lemn Sissay and local poet Lisa Luxx – and from local amateur poets around the subject of courage, the theme of the 2017 Huddersfield Literature Festival. The amateur poetry will be taken from community groups, schools and literary groups in the local area such as Talking Zebras, The Albert Poets and Holmfirth Writers Group, and any other local people who wish to participate. Entrants will have the opportunity to be part of a competition to win prizes of an eReader or Waterstones vouchers.

These poems will appear across the Town Centre, creating a wonderfully visual poetry map for Huddersfield. Poems displayed in participating store fronts will celebrate local talent and the specially created graphics will temporarily fill some of the vacant premises on the high street.

The idea is to encourage footfall by creating a desire for people to come into the town to see their work on display.

We are offering you poems written by local established and amateur poets for your customers to read whilst they are either inside your premises or walking past your store front.

What you will receive:
• One poem will be provided to you for display in your premises, either inside or in the window of your store. They will be branded with Huddersfield Literature Festival, Kirklees Council and the Courage Is Poetry Project (more poems will be available on request)
• Footprints (temporary outlines of feet) outside your store front on the pavement that will identify you as a business participating in the project
• Social Media promotion – Huddersfield Literature Festival will be promoting your participation via Facebook and Twitter, and of course the poet whose work you are displaying will be promoting their work whilst it appears in your store.

How Huddersfield town centre and local businesses will benefit:
• Increased footfall from all participants and their friends and families wanting to see their work in situ
• Increased dwell time in your store
• Improved appearance as empty store fronts are temporarily utilised

If you would like to take part please send in your entry via our Facebook page, by email at courageispoetry@gmail.com or by post to Courage Is Poetry Project, c/o Creative Economy Team, Kirkgate Buildings, Byram Street, Huddersfield, HD1 1BY. Please indicate which size poster you would like - A4 or A3.

For more information visit http://litfest.org.uk/