After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2002 with a 2:1 in English (BA), I trained in the community arts. Since then I have run workshops to connect people of different ages and backgrounds with creative writing and performance. Whether working from a health, wellbeing, educational or vocational perspective, my focus is on encouraging writers to value their voices. This means working with people to find out what they want to write and how to craft their work and bring it to an audience - large or small.
My experience includes facilitation of performance workshops, coaching a poetry slam team and editing and compiling material for publication and exhibition. I also run drop-in sessions at festivals, enrichment days and CPD training. I am excited by how different art-forms can inspire and meld with one another in novel ways and often collaborate with other artists. You can read about some of the combined arts workshops I have been involved with at the Artlink blog.
Participant from Oasis project with Artlink West Yorkshire and Bryony Pritchard
Organisations I have facilitated workshops for include The Poetry Society, First Story, NAWE, Apples and Snakes, the Ilkley Literature Festival, Imove , Artlink West Yorkshire, The Hepworth Wakefield, The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds City Museum, The Leeds Library and the Ted Hughes Project. Alongside Michelle Scally Clarke, I was co-leader of the Ilkley and Bradford Young Writers groups from their inception in 2011 and 2016.
Email me at write@beckycherriman.com if you would like to discuss the possibility of me running a workshop or project with your group or school.