TESTIMONIALS
“Poetic Unity continue to work wonders within the community. Providing engaging workshops that not only nurture but challenge young minds to strive to be at their best. It was wonderful to talk to learners after the event who said they really liked the workshops and it helped them to improve their language and speaking skills. Learners said they would love to do it again. The part that amazed me the most was the infectious confidence from the workshop facilitator who managed to create a safe environment where learners felt confident and brave enough to share life experiences. We would love to see more of Poetic Unity at Croydon College in the future.”
Mikhaila Ellington
Teacher, Croydon College
“Poetic Unity is one of the best places for freedom of expression, to really appreciate the art of poetry & I love how everyone here is so welcoming.”
Munira Mohammed
Learning Manager,
Black Cultural Archives
“Poetic Unity brings together a huge range of talented young poets at different levels of their artistry. It provides an inclusive space where first time performers, up and coming as well as seasoned poets are able to share one stage.”
Suley Muhidin
Community Developer,
Southwark Council
"Ryan from Poetic Unity attended Surrey Docks Adventure Playground as part of our summer program, he completed two 1 hour sessions with 2 separate groups, initially the children were reluctant to participate however after some encouragement from Ryan and our staff they gave it a try, they were really enthusiastic about the sessions and they were surprised how much they enjoyed it, this introduction to poetry did have a positive effect on them and they now view poetry in a positive way, we look forward to inviting Poetic Unity back at Surrey Docks in the future."
Jeddy Allotey
Senior Play Worker,
Surrey Docks Playground
“Ryan delivered a poetry workshop as part of the Community Arts Practice Year 13 Festival. Ryan created an open and supportive environment for the students to share their ideas with each other and feel confident to put pen to paper individually. The work that they produced was insightful, creative and gave our students an opportunity to explore an art form that they don’t explore on their course very often. It was a pleasure to work with Ryan of Poetic Unity and we would be more than happy to collaborate with him in the future.”
Emma Balaam
Teacher, Brit School
“Poetic Unity came in to work with our Year 10 students. Ryan engaged the students straight away and made them feel comfortable and confident. His personalised teaching style, and performances of his own work, inspired our students to create work that some of their teachers had not seen before. The students thoroughly enjoyed their day and we would definitely invite Poetic Unity to return and work with more of our students.”
Amanda Cownley
Teacher, Harris Academy Beckenham
"Over the workshops, Poetic Unity brought together the class to read, write, and discuss poetry. The workshops were led by poet/leader Ryan, who guided the pupils with a unique and playful approach to writing. The participants learned a variety of ways to enter into writing and left each session with the draft of a poem. The intimacy and camaraderie he created with the pupils, lives on the page.The class explored the sound of words, their texture and effects and grew in confidence. For these reasons, I would recommend Poetic Unity Programmes."
Ruth Lennon
Teacher, Berger Primary School
"I wanted to pass on another big thank you to Poetic Unity for their participation in our Lambeth Council event at the Town Hall. The performers were phenomenal and the story of the charity is inspiring. We’ve gotten great feedback about the event from members of staff that attended and it was a lot of fun to be there! Great work."
Paul Tait
Chair of Young Professionals Network
Lambeth Council
"Working with Poetic Unity has been a joy from start to finish. Over the course of our short 4-week course, I watched my group of teenagers develop immensely. Their writing became more fluid and deep, they garnered respect for one another that had been tough to do so before, stood by each other when another was talking about an issue that was personal to them, but mostly, they had a wonderful and fun time. Seeing their work brought to life through Ryan's passion and determination as a leader and a teacher was great to watch, he employed a huge amount of different learning techniques so that everyone was given the opportunity to succeed, which they did! By the end of the course, our teenagers were so much more confident at public speaking and delivering a personal project piece in a public setting. I would not hesitate to bring Poetic Unity back to Cowley in a heartbeat in the future."
Gareth Hussey
Community Development,
the Cowley Estate in Brixton
"Ryan ran a fantastic poetry session at the CHIVA camp. Firstly, he made poetry really accessible by talking about rap, spoken word and performance poetry which made it way more exciting than many of the participants' experience of poetry at school. He spoke to the young people on a level and shared some very relevant poetry he'd written with the group to inspire their work. The environment felt open and safe for the young people to write and perform poems about their personal experiences of living with HIV which culminated in some really impressive and moving performances."
Abi Carter
Participation Officer, Chiva
