Past Poet Laureate Tom Cull | London Arts Council

POET LAUREATE

PAST POET LAUREATE

TOM CULL

POET LAUREATE 2016-2018

Tom Cull is a poet, a creative writing professor, an active participant in London’s vibrant arts scene, and a community organizer. His poetry is accessible and engaged with our social, political, and environmental realities. He writes across a variety of poetic forms, from the traditional lyric to spoken word to the experimental. His commitment to exploring human connection with animals and natural environments is evident in his 2013 chapbook, What the Badger Said, and his 2018 full-length collection, Bad Animals.

Tom has served as a dedicated promoter of London’s literary artists and creator of learning opportunities for emerging artists. He has been board member for Words Fest, an editor of the Words Fest Zine, and a coordinator of Words Fest's Guerrilla Poetry events. He has facilitated workshops for Poetry London’s reading series, Western University’s Language Day, Gathering in the Garden, and the Children’s International Summer Villages Summer Camp.

He is also an active promoter of community building, urban renewal, and environmental conservation. He has been a board member for the Urban League of London and for the Back to the River Steering Committee. With his partner and son, Tom founded Thames River Rally, a volunteer organization that coordinates monthly cleanups of the Thames River and encourages partnerships with community organizations to protect and preserve green spaces across London.

PROJECTS AND IMPACT

Tom Cull has represented London’s poetry and literary arts in a broad array of occasions and activities, has written poems for many of these occasions, and has been a notable contributor to London's Culture Days in 2016 and 2017. During Culture Days on Dundas Street (2017), he curated both Poet Laureate Presents… Crossings and Poets' Lane, a series of concrete poetry installations that filled a city block with t-shirt poetry, edible plant letters, immersive video poems, live performances, a living sandwich-board, and a re-mounting of Poet Laureate Presents… Art & Environment: Scrabbling Poetry.

LEGACY PROJECT: POET LAUREATE PRESENTS...

Poet Laureate Presents… is an event series curated and hosted by the Poet Laureate and dedicated to showcasing local artists, London cultures, and the many ways in which the literary arts can facilitate meaningful social change. Click through the gallery below to view event descriptions and highlights.

Poet Laureate Presents… River of Words

(November 3, 2018, at Museum London for WordsFest)

This special Words edition of Poet Laureate Presents featured three separate performances involving seven artists (poets, electronic musicians, virtual reality videographers, instrumental musicians, singer-song writers) investigating our relationship with the Deshkan Ziibiing/Thames River.

Poet Laureate Presents… Pride Lit

(July 23, 2018, at The Aeolian for the Pride London Festival)

A full evening showcase of nine acts — including poetry, music, and interdisciplinary collaborations — co-hosted by Tom Cull and Pride London Festival director Jennifer Wenn.

Poet Laureate Presents… Sound and Sense (November 4, 2017, at Museum London for the Words Literary Festival)

Four separate performances through which fourteen artists (poets, electronic musicians, instrumental musicians, and singer-song writers) exploring the relationship between poetry and sound, including a soundscape tribute to John Cage, an investigation of folk music and modernist poetry, and a card game for directing improvisational music.

Poet Laureate Presents… Crossings (September 27 & 29, 2017, for the LAC's Public Art Symposium and Culture Days)

A showcase of collaborative and cross-disciplinary art projects, co-curated by Tom Cull and The ARTS Project Artist in Residence Angie Quick. Four pairs of artists from different cultural backgrounds created four unique performances combining poetry, visual art, dance, music, technology, and performance art.

Poet Laureate Presents... Art and Environment: Scrabbling Poetry

(August 19, 2017, for the Forest Festival)

A large-scale, temporary artwork created in partnership with ReForest London, London Environmental Network, and Anishinaabe story-teller Summer Bressett. Londoners used a set of giant letters (created with recycled cardboard and donations of unused paint) to create a community poem about land, history, and the environment.

Poet Laureate Presents… Local Publishers (May 8, 2017, at London Public Library's Central Branch)

A showcase of local literary publishers—both digital and print—featuring a Local Publishers' Book Sale and readings by writers representing each publisher.

Poet Laureate Presents… Stories of Health (April 18, 2017, at Innovation Works)

A presentation and discussion of films created by participants in the Prevention & Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP) at London Health Science, co-facilitated by Dr. Arlene Macdougall. Participants from LAC's Belong to Song program performed at the start and end of the evening, which focused on the healing power of personal narrative.

Poet Laureate Presents… A London Arts Celebration (September 28, 2016, at London Public Library's Central Branch)

A showcase of poetry readings by representatives from London literary performance series — London Poetry Slam, London Open Mic Poetry Night, and Poetry London — to formally welcome Margaret Christakos, the 2016/2017 Writer-in-Residence at Western University and the London Public Library.

THE RIVER TALKS: A GATHERING AT DESHKAN ZIIBIING

The River Talks: A Gathering at Deshkan Ziibiing / Thames River (October 18 - 20, 2018)

Tom led the London Arts Council's contribution to this collaborative event with London Environmental Network, The City of London, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, Museum London, London Public Library, and London Community Foundation. The event - part tribute, part summit, part community gathering - included three days of indoor and outdoor talks, walks, activations, and art focused on river ecology, hydrology, culture, history, conservation, gender, and social justice. Featuring Indigenous leaders, water protectors, water managers, conservationists, environmentalists, activists, artists, and academics, the event asked us to re-imagine, renew, restore, and respect our water-ways.

The River Talks logo by Mike Cywink

OTHER NOTABLE PROJECTS

Poets' Passage (July 27 - September 21, 2017)

In consultation with The City of London Planning Division, Downtown London, Covent Garden Market, and Fanshawe College, Tom curated a series of interactive activities for Market Lane near Covent Garden Market. This pilot program, designed to help rejuvenate Market Lane and promote local businesses, featured local-artist-led activities including live painting lessons, pop-up dancing, music, and hand-made automatic poetry generators.

London in Colour (2016)

In collaboration with the City of London's Heritage Planner and Culture Office and with LAC’s Public Art Program, Tom wrote nineteen original poems to accompany drawings of London’s architectural, cultural, and historical landmarks created by twelve local artists.

Supported through the City of London Community Arts Investment Program (CAIP),
administered by the London Arts Council.

For more information about the Poets Laureate,

please contact the London Arts Council at info@londonarts.ca

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