Posted By: Laura Stimson, 13 December 2011
Shake the Dust is a national Slam project managed by Apples & Snakes. The project for the Eastern region is being delivered by The Garage in partnership with Writers’ Centre Norwich.
We are looking for two young people from the East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk) to act as peer mentors on Shake the Dust. Peer mentors are young people who have taken part in slam programmes before and can inspire Shake the Dust project participants and act as role models. They should ideally be aged 16-24, but there can be some flexibility. This is an unpaid development role but expenses associated with the project will be covered.
Peer mentors will get the opportunity to:
• Take part in a national youth consortium which will input into Shake the Dust, the national Shake the Dust weekend, and the Shake the Dust legacy. The consortium is most likely to meet virtually
• Attend the national Shake the Dust weekend to represent their region (all travel, accommodation and food will be covered)
• Be part of a national ‘All Stars’ project, in which two or three teams of peer mentors will work together to create new pieces of work to be showcased at the national Shake the Dust weekend. This will be devised initially over the internet, and time will be given for peer mentors to work on the performance at the weekend itself
• Work with a wide range of poets, slam producers, young people and arts professionals from across the country as well as with each other; coming into contact with many different styles and poetics
• Improve their writing and performance skills and observe workshops at the national weekend, led by experienced poet coaches and shadows
• Share their experience of poetry, spoken word and slam project with Shake the Dust participants
Peer mentors might also have the opportunity to:
• Act as video hosts at regional finals, broadcasting interesting content before and after slam finals and during breaks
• Act as “sacrificial poets” at regional slam finals (to be agreed by steering groups)
• Take part in a national judging panel, to assess ‘guest teams’ at regional finals. Details to be confirmed
In return, peer mentors will need to:
• Be excellent role models for younger poets
• Be very good at responding to emails, without extra chasing!
• Support their regional final by acting as runners and assisting as needed throughout the day
• Commit to coming to the national Shake the Dust weekend and taking part in all activities
• Commit to contributing to the creation of a national performance piece
• Contribute a piece to the Shake the Dust blog (if asked)
