Meet Arji Manuelpillai, the literary mastermind behind our brand new poetry programme “Now that’s what I call poetry!”
Arji has worked with Bigfoot since 2011 and in the past has been a performance poetry and after school clubs facilitator! Currently, he is is a poet, rapper, performer and education artist based in London with both national and international experience spanning across 15 years. Arji has performed and taught people from all backgrounds sharing is passion and enthusiasm for bringing the community together through the arts. This includes working in settings such as prisons, youth clubs, detention centres, immigration removal centres and hospitals. Throughout his career, Arji has been heavily involved in a wide range of amazing education, performance, poetry and writing projects. From recently working on the team which started People’s Parlour (a group of over 60’s who meet for arts and chat every Thursday in Greenwich) to working with EEA as a facilitator with young people of all ages. As well as this Arji has extensive experience in writing a variety of different works, from writing lyrics for The Leano and Oojami to writing for other artists and full scale theatre productions.
Arji brings a wealth of experience, creativity and energy to his work which is why we were thrilled when he agreed to create our brand new poetry programme “Now that’s what I call poetry!”. The programme has been designed to celebrate all things poetry; learning about famous poems and their authors for Key Stage 1 and 2. The workshops will enable children to explore contemporary and classic poems further as well as create and perform their very own poetry. The assembly engages children in an exciting and interesting way explaining the power of poetry and how there is a poet within each and every one of us! 5 brilliant poems and their poets will be shared throughout the performance and then during the workshops, new poems will be explored to inspire students to create their very own powerful work.
“Now that’s what I call poetry!” is an excellent way to celebrate World Book Day or to promote creative literacy within your school. For more information contact us here.