In the two years since the launch of Raggedy Man Press, have we achieved everything we set out to do and what is left to be done?
It's been a bit of a journey. Two years on and it feels like not much progress has been made. However, on reflection, and as I'm constantly reminded by friends, that's really not the case. In the three years since the inception and two years since the launch of Raggedy Man Press, we've published one book and managed to successfully host and organise 9 events showcasing the best of both Gloucestershire's spoken word and musical talent but also pulling in some superb acts from as far a field as New York!
There were plans to release more books and even a quarterly pamphlet (which is most definitely still on the cards), however a combination of personal hardship and financial difficulties for both myself and our Editor in Chief Clive Amadeus; have put all these plans on hold. It's been a real challenge trying to find the time to not only arrange and promote the events but also write, put together and create art work for my books, run a pub quiz (yeah have neglected to mention that before!), keep up with my studies AND hold down a full time job.
Still though... it's been worth the struggles and we've got a back catalogue of events that we can be proud of. It's also not just the talent on stage that I'm proud of being associated with. We've managed to bring on board a local student company called Dreamwave Productions, made up of music production and sound design students from our local uni, who run the sound for our live events. As an alumnus of the University of Gloucestershire myself, it's great to be able to support and give live experience to a great bunch of young people.
Perhaps my favourite night (and the most successful we've had so far), is our recent March gig where we were able to host The Courtesy Group from Birmingham (first picture) and local "noise poetry" duo Quartz Gallery (shown above). It also gave me the chance to try out some of my own new material as I supported them as resident poet for the evening. Above all that, we drew a great crowd and were able to put on two sensational bands which otherwise wouldn't get the chance to play in Cheltenham as no other venue really caters to this sort of night.
I'm hoping that as we're now starting to build an audience and a reputation for putting on interesting and eclectic nights; we will start to gain more traction and hopefully contribute to breaking some of the apathy towards live performance which has existed in Cheltenham for so long. The thing is, we're not the only ones doing it, The Cheltenham Poetry Festival has been the bastion for Spoken Word in Cheltenham over the last 13 years, The Frog and Fiddle continues to deliver an array of Punk, Metal and alternative live events, The Six String Juke Box who are beginning to corner the open mic market, the emergence of Byrd Out who host a range of eclectic events at Deya Brewery is also a jewel in Cheltenham's live music and performance crown not to mention the understated efforts of Harry Hawkins' Crackers Comedy Nights bringing some of the best emerging stand up talent to pubs all over the county. It's all of these contributors who give me hope and silent encouragement to keep going.
I'm hopeful about what the next few years will bring... Raggedy Man Press has been hard work, I've not always had the energy to put in the effort I want to really do it justice. However, with the events coming up that we've got planned and the ideas I want to set in motion, I think we can continue to contribute to Cheltenham's live performance scene in a constructive and positive way and hopefully provide a guide and platform to all the wonderful artists and performers this town, county and country have to offer.
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