Welcome to Lit Up, the website for the National Live Literature Consortium.

The Consortium is a group of arts venues who have been working together since 2003 to explore the role of live literature within established arts venues. The member venues have worked to develop live literature as an artform, encouraging the production and presentation of live literature through stimulating the creation of new work, building expertise within programmers and identifying audience development strategies.

In 2009/10, the Consortium delivered the Lit Up Showcase & Conference Series 2009-10, a series of three events exploring creating, producing and selling live literature work.

Lit Up: Selling Live Literature
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Bristol Old Vic

The final Showcase & Conference event explored selling live literature – how artists and producers sell their work to venues and promoters, and how we can all work together to sell live literature to audiences. Performances included Penultimate’s A Night on the Tiles and Polarbear’s ‘RETURN’, as well as work in progress from Lit Up Associate Artists. Seminar participants included Ric Michael, ex-director of the Manchester Poetry Festival; Charlie Dark, poet and promoter; Richard Morgan, Royal Exchange; Kate McGrath, Fuel; Kate Tull, freelance producer and Tom Chivers, Penned in the Margins. The keynote speech was given by Emma Stenning, Executive Director of Bristol Old Vic.

Here is a short film evaluating the Lit Up Showcase & Conference Series:

Lit Up: Producing Live Literature
Thursday 24 September 2009
The Albany, Deptford

The second event also drew delegates from across the sector, who saw excerpts of work by artists including Stacy Makishi, Justin Coe and Luke Wright, heard a keynote speech from Baba Israel, new Artistic Director of Contact Theatre and watched To Intimacy and Beyond, a full length show by Zena Edwards, commissioned by the Consortium.

You can see a short film of September’s event here:

Lit Up: Creating Live Literature
Thursday 11 June 2009
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

Featuring excerpts of work by Polarbear, Lebo Mashile, Inua Ellams and Kate Fox amongst others, a keynote speech from Helen Marriage of Artichoke and a full length show by The High Llamas, written by Jonathan Coe, the first event was attended by over 100 professionals from across the live literature sector: artists, producers, programmers and funders.

You can see a short film of the day here:

In 2006 we staged Lit Up, a three day showcase of performance poetry, literature and spoken word, debates and discussions, all designed to explore new ways of developing the role of live literature within performing arts venues. The event attracted more than 150 delegates and evaluation and feedback was hugely positive.

To read more about Lit Up 2006 click here

If you would like to be added to the Lit Up emailing list, to receive further details about opportunities linked to the Showcase and Conference events and other news, please sign up here:

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