Sponsor a Boat Poet

Help a young emerging poet to kick start their career with this amazing residency opportunity.

We have supported 11 young poets so far, this is what they thought of their residency opportunity.

"I feel like it’s been hugely important – it’s only really this Summer I’ve started to take my work and myself as an artist a bit more seriously and Boat Poets has been massively instrumental in that – being given the space and freedom to write alone is an amazing thing and not something I’ve been able to do before – that along with the opportunity to perform at 2 amazing gigs and the workshops particularly with Kat Francois – have genuinely given me a huge amount of confidence. When people ask me what I do now I tell them I’m a poet before I say that I work in a chocolate shop. It’s been massive." Chris White

"I feel very lucky to have been involved in this project. This has been my first paid writing residency and I think definitely the first project I’ve been involved in with such high quality collaborators and promotion." Sophie Dumont

This will enable them to:

- Spend 5 days in residence on their local waterway

- Attend 4 professional development workshops with world class poets and mentors

- Participate in an online community of peer support

- Perform in a high quality IRL event alongside world class poets

- Create a new poem to be printed in a dedicated pamphlet

- Create a short film of their poem

About Boat Poets

Boat Poets is a talent development project which supports, encourages and inspires new poetry from young people across the UK www.boatpoets.com

We offer opportunities to emerging poets and spoken word artists through paid residencies on boats, barges and ferries on their local waterway. 

Over the past 5 years Boat Poets has worked to support 11 poets through residencies, mentoring and professional opportunities - 65% are from underrepresented backgrounds. We have also hosted 6 sell out events in London, Plymouth, Bristol and online. 

We are committed to supporting the arts and cultural sector and have reached 100,000+ diverse audience members live and online.

All money that comes to us gets reinvested in the project, which means paying artists to be artists.

How will my money be used?