Let's remain creative and collaborative at this time of separation

Join us for an evening of collaborative writing exercises around the theme of 'lifting each other up', led by spoken word duo Blackswan n Robin, with live music while you write from music duo Charlie + Jake.

The aim of the evening is to collectively write a poem which will be showcased at Charlie + Jake's monthly livestream, Open Collab. Each month, Charlie + Jake improvise musical worlds around poetry sent into them from all over the world. This April, they are celebrating Open Collab's first birthday and, with the helping hand of regular collaborators Blackswan n Robin, want to invite you to collectively create a piece that encompasses what Open Collab is all about: collaboration and creativity.

Join us on Zoom on 21st April from 7.30pm for an evening of music + poetry + writing. We can't wait to collaborate (and chat!) with you all.

About the Hosts

Blackswan n Robin

We are a creative collaboration based in London and Devon. Making spoken word, illustration and recorded materials.

We are Hope creators and reflectors, working from our rural and urban contexts and fusing our talents.

Whilst there is a continuing wrestle with social, racial and cultural tension in their writing, there is a hopeful and healing nature throughout their work, which is greatly needed at this unsettling time. Our collaborative writing means that together they create a new voice, existing in a landscape beyond boundaries and expectations. Blackswan n Robin perform in masks and remain ‘undercover’, to create further layers of performative tension, curiosity and playfulness.

Charlie + Jake

We are a multi-instrumental live-looping duo from Bristol, UK. As a duo, we have been creating and performing jazz-infused original music at places like Ronnie Scott's, Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Bristol Harbour Festival. We were also the house band of the week on BBC Radio Bristol.

Since lockdown began in 2020, we have been putting on a monthly livestream show called Open Collab. For this show, we put out an open call for poetry submissions from all over the world. We then curate these submissions and improvise musical worlds around the performances live on the stream. We are very often genre-agnostic, letting the poetry lead us into anything from sonic soundscapes to soulful gospel grooves.

"Creative genius" - The Everyday Magazine

“Amazing collaboration project” - Adam Crowther (BBC Radio Bristol)

More details

The workshop will take place via Zoom and you will receive the link once you have signed up.

Please bring a pen, paper + headphones for Zoom so we can all hear each other and the music!

There are limited spaces so get involved!

This event is free to attend, but donations to Blackswan n Robin's ko-fi page would be welcomed! https://ko-fi.com/blackswannrobin

Submissions for our Open Collab show close on 17th April. Send us your poetry performance and we'll create a musical world for your words to live in: opencollab.co.uk

Open Collab: Collective Writing Session