<<SVP maybe welcoming for some, but again I have often reminded people of
events going on only to be told that the area of London, the nature of the
pub, the attitudes of the audience, all are off-putting. It has to be a
really exciting writer they already know to tempt some people there.
But since Lawrence says most of the time it is well attended, he must
usually be putting on the people they want to hear and on terms the poets
are happy to abide by.>> Alaric Sumner
Nature or nurture? One in particular who now likes to be mailed about SVP
events habitually said they couldnt attend regularly because they didnt get
the info. When I had finished changing the information system so that
everyone who wants it almost certainly has it, the reason CHANGED to the
unlikeability of the pub... This isnt me going on about svp - honest - it
happens elsewhere.
I didn't make it to the Halsey / Monk or Gilonis / Rees readings at
Torriano and rarely make it to V.I. So _who am I to speak_? Don't answer.
Anyone who has ever run a mag knows the uphill battle it is to get subs...
even from those who like the thing. Theyre broke or theyre busy or... I
have just resolved to send my new sub off to Spanner wch I have been trying
to do for months and months...
The area of London The Three Cups is in is really interesting. It isn't all
ugly building. The working population generally displeases me - but that's
my aversion to legal profession - and they tend to drink in T3C; but they
go quite early... A nearby pub that was recommended to me as an improvement
a while back gets raided by coach tours every half hour! Now I wouldn't
mind putting on gigs in Tate St Ives
I don't think the svp audience attitude is offputting though some say it
is. Sometimes a fair number of them are plain exhausted - some doing heroic
journeys or having worked heroically. There are a *few* whom *I* find
offputting though I try to be relentlessly amiable; and overall the
audience is fine. I think most of the audience are fine. If I am talking to
people before they attend - email or phone - I tell them to ask at the bar
to be pointed at people there for the poetry so they don't have to be left
on their own if they don't want to be. Not many do introduce themselves.
Maybe It's not a very English thing to do, male or middle aged or anything
else.
The shape and layout of the place etc tends to encourage people to speak to
those they know... In assessing why people behave as they do with respect
to readings, we face the same problems that market researchers and
political pollsters face - people don't always tell the truth. And
sometimes they don't want to be greeted. I went to evensong with some
friends a while back and did everything I could to get by the vicar at the
end but he had to tell me how welcome I was; and there was nothing wrong
with his approach even if he does believe he is going to live for ever; but
I can imagine NOT going there again to hear the music just because I would
rather not make small talk at the church door. Weirdness eh?
Well-attended is of course relative. Perhaps I should say _better than it
has been_ - well-attended would mean we have to move.
All venues have their problems. I don't like the Victoria much but I go to
the WF workshop there whenever possible because *that* is important to
me... And that's probably why I got grumpy about the svp audience - because
a couple of weeks before I was AMAZED that so few turned up to a workshop
run by Joris and Rothenberg
I dont like the Torriano meeting house as a place or the pubs nearby - it
is the poets who get me there, when they get me there. And I couldn't tell
you why very easily, but I *hate* the voice box as a space. I like looking
at the RFH and looking out at the river; but when I am in the building I
feel as though I am marooned in an Escher print and I don't really find it
that friendly. The VB room is like a departure space at Gatwick.
Agreed with Alaric about different programme formats. Left entirely to
myself I would often like really long wadges of one poet, because it gives
them such scope and allows for a deep exploration of what they are doing;
but this I discovered is a probably a minority view. As an organiser I
spend more time asking for more of the poets than I do asking for less.
Many poets will travel for hours and then gladly stop performing after 15
minutes.
On the other hand I would like to see - and would be happy to _curate_ in
the right circumstances events mixing poetry with other modes, dance,
music, whatever... and use of prerec material, visuals etc is fairly easily
done and I welcome it... There is a lot to be done that can be done easily.
The _continuity for poetry_ of which Karlien spoke the other day is very
important and when one is busy and or without resources that can lead one
to work to a template; but we should also look towards what else is
possible.
<<This is quite weird. I've been lurking for ages and now suddenly spew out
| all this.>>
Join in more - let's get a discussion going more often. Then maybe I shall
say less. I think this list is another way of creating the continuity for
poetry.
L
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