The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre runs an internship programme to encourage undergraduate students to become more involved in the Centre's wide and exciting range of activities. The first interns (pictured above) were recruited in 2014, and ran a pop-up poetry series around Oxford and on campus for National Poetry Day, a video series featuring staff and students discussing their most memorable poems, and a poetry competition about wellbeing. Subsequent interns have organised a contemporary poetry reading group, a poetry slam/open mic, started a Brookes Poetry Society, organized a PoetryFilm competition, and helped to run a poetry symposium. The internship scheme is designed to raise awareness of, and increase exposure to, poetry across the University campus, as well as taking poetry to off-campus venues and sites. We are especially interested in bringing poetry to people who might not normally engage with it.
Although unpaid, the internship, which is usually held by a group of 2-3 undergraduate students for one calendar year from October to October, offers a valuable opportunity to develop skills related to employability, especially for students interested in the arts, marketing, publishing, or work with charitable organizations. The internship is also part of BrookesEDGE, the co-curricular scheme to help students make the most of their time at university and prepare themselves for the world of work.
Interns may assist in various different Poetry Centre ventures, such as our poetry pamphlet press, ignitionpress, poetry readings and events, our international poetry competition, promotion of the Centre's work via social media, and with events for National Poetry Day in October. Interns may also be invited to create and run their own projects.
