More info coming soon...

In my role as an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre, I developed the Where To? project. As part of the London Literature Festival, four young creatives went through seven weeks of workshops on production and curation as they put together a mixed-art event in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Throughout the project, I acted as Creative Mentor to the participants, leading sessions and also co-ordinating a artistic experiences that inspired them along the away. I really enjoyed this project, out participants Alex Rowse, Jayga Ryan, Rosie Knight & Jamal Msebele did a great job. Click here for audio/ video of the event.

Thanks to everyone involved. Including the visual artist Myrto Williams and Benjamin Zephaniah, who gave a great interview via Skype. Here's a link.

I'm doing research for an artistic / sociological investigation of the hoodie. Looking at it as culture, comfort, threat and political scapegoat.

I'll be blogging about the process. You can subcribe by clicking this link.

From Nov 2008 - Feb 2009, myself and 15 other creative practicitioners invited to be Emerging Artists in Residence at the Southbank Centre. Over our time there we collaborated, developed our own work, curated events, worked on learning and participation projects and mentored young creatives. Our residency culminated in TAKEOVER a sell out show of our work in the Royal Festival Hall.

Here's a summary of the some of the things I took part of whilst an EAR.

- Curated EAR PRESENT, a showcase featuring the Southbank Centre's Emerging Artists in Residence.

- Collaborated with The Irene Taylor Trust to run music workshops in Holloway & Wandsworth prisons.

- Commissioned with Riz MC to write poetry and perform at the London arrival of the 2008 Olympic torch.

- Mentored young creative on participation projects associated with The London Literature & Poetry International Festivals.

- Co-curated an event for the London Literature Festival 2008

- Advised on the blogging for the Poetry International Festival 2008.

Click here for short videos about the project.

Click here for the EAR blog

Fellow Emerging Arists in Residence. Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Aruba Red, Nila Raja, Max Hallet, Maxwell Golden, Ping Lee, Heg Hamilton, Iron Bradyz, Nathan 'Flutebox' Lee, Mico, Riz MC, Renell Shaw, Sam Carter, Camilo Tirado.

Mixed Arts (photography, music, & writing workshops) with young fathers from Islington. Developed & managed by All Change. Collaborating Artists: Yemisi Blake, Romain Forquy, Tony Nwakachu.

http://allchangearts.org/

In the autumn of 2008, as part of my Southbank Centre residency, I facilitated workshops in Holloway and Wandsworth prisons. This was a collaboration between Music in Prisons and the Southbank Centre.

Other Southbank Centre Artists included: Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Ping Lee, Camilo Tirado

During the Southbank Centre's Poetry International Festival 2008:

I co-curated the festival blog, curated blog lounge, blogged, and mentored 5 young bloggers.

See the end result here.

http://poetryinternational.wordpress.com/

Barking Metamorphosis is an arts and writing project involving UrbanWords, the writer Yemisi Blake, Platform 2 product design students at the Royal College of Arts, muf Architecture/Art, and Barking and Dagenham Council.

The students from the Royal College of Arts have already populated Barking Learning Centre and Barking Town Square with original chairs, designed from materials found or bought in Barking. There are 6 to find, and 3 more are on their way…

Over the next month, there will be a series of ‘happenings’ at the Barking Learning Centre – from creative workshops with Gascoigne Primary School and Arc Theatre, to the creation of a ‘writer’s room’ within the library. We will be blogging about the project as it evolves, so please bookmark this page, come back to find out what’s happening, and leave us your comments about the project.

Project Blog

http://barkingmetamorphosis.wordpress.com

Bringing together two Parkour practitioners, a writer, a neuroscientist, a sound artist, a dancer, a filmmaker, a photographer two sports scientists to collaborate and design a series of workshops delivered to young people in.

More info coming soon. Islington

Keep track of my Comfort Zone blog posts here.

As part of Barking's Molten Festival, I was invited by Spread The Word to run two workshops (info below) and take one day residency in Dagenham Market. Myself and fellow writer Aoife Mannix were realised into the amrket to take in the sights and sounds, talk to people and respond in poetry. Then we wrote our poems on canvases that were displaced in Barking Learning Centre.

Find more photos here

And info about the event here

Introduction to Blogging

Fancy setting up a blog but not quite sure where to start? Already have a blog and want some ideas on how to develop it? Not quite sure what a blog is, but want to find out more? Join writer and blogger Yemisi Blake for an introduction to the world of blogging. No experience necessary.

Getting Started

Do you have a story, poem, script or novel in you? Have you always wanted to write, but never quite been able to get past the first line? Join writer, Yemisi Blake, for some inspirational tips on getting started and keeping going.