Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Bristol’s premier live poetry night Raise the Bar returns with a fresh selection of spoken wordsmithery at Easton Community Centre. Feat Tom’s Sastry’s shrewd political meditations, Yhonet Garcia’s emotive explorations of selfhood and renewal, and a series of open mic spots for aspiring verse visionaries."
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A event on Thursday 27th March. The event starts at 19:30.
Raise the Bar returns with another dynamic night of live poetry at Easton Community Centre, with two brilliant feature acts Tom Sastry and Yhonet Garcia.
Our open mics are welcome to poets, rappers, storytellers, lyricists, songwriters, and wordsmiths of all styles and levels of experience, whether it's your first time or your 100th. If you'd like to sign up to perform, or just sit back with a beverage and listen to some of the city's finest wordsmiths, this is the evening for you.
16+ accompanied. Wheelchair accessible. Scroll down for further access and safeguarding information.
️27th March 2025
Easton Community Centre
Kilburn St, Easton, Bristol BS5 6AW
7:00pm doors | 7:30pm - 9:30pm show (including interval)
PWYC £5 / £7 / £9 (£4 concessions)
OPEN MIC:
This will be an opportunity to try out new material in a safe, warm environment hosted by Raise the Bar's compere extraordinaire Saili Katebe.
Open Mic List is now Full
A number of open mic spaces are reserved for writers from the global majority, marginalised genders and sexualities, non-male writers, and writers in outlying areas of Bristol or the South West.
FEATURE ACTS
TOM SASTRY
Tom Sastry is political, ironic, emotional, morbid and funny in all the wrong places. He has published two previous collections (both with Nine Arches) and one pamphlet. These have been (variously) Poetry School Book of the Year, Poetry Book Society pamphlet choice, highly commended in the Forward Prize and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize.
Life expectancy begins to fall
‘I admire Tom Sastry’s poems for their clarity, complexity, and kindness. Here, they ask how to live well in this ‘Peri-Apocalypse’ – ‘halfway up the Anthropocene’ – while preparing for accelerating, calamitous futures, where ‘trouble grows from trouble’. Refusing the treadmill of ‘emotional correctness’ they riff wildly on AI poets, inverse A-Bombs and defrosting billionaires, but also our intimate moments where, ‘nothing happens, in the most lavish way’. On a very troubled planet, these poems celebrate the solace of pints with conspiracy theorists and taking part with all your foibles. Or quitting, which is OK too.’ – Caleb Parkin
YHONET GARCIA
Yhonet Garcia is a singer song-writer and poet from Venezuela, based in Bristol since 2013. Her poems and songs stem from her lived experience, navigating delicate subjects that reflect her healing journey after surviving violence and abuse when growing up in Venezuela. She writes about toxic relationships with the masculine, her relationship with her body, with her family, and the journey towards loving herself again. Topics that are uncomfortable but necessary; to give voice to those that haven't found theirs yet. Her voice is raw, poignant as well as vulnerable. She writes in English, Spanish and a combination of both. She did a Masters in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, where she wrote her first poetry manuscript, sharing her story of survival, migration, and reclaiming the power of her voice; once silenced. She works as a Creative Coach, workshop facilitator, and holds space with her music in plant medicine ceremonies. Music and words are the fuel that keep her heart pumping. Nature, animals and friends are the food that nourishes her when she feels the void inside. Her cat is the closest she's felt to being a mum.
You can connect with her on IG @yhonetcreative YouTube: Yhonet Garcia and website: www.creativejourney.art
RAISE THE BAR
The South West's leading live poetry night, running blockbuster spoken word events in Bristol and beyond since 2014.
‘From top to bottom, one of my all-time favourite shows’ – Shane Koyczan
'One of the best poetry nights in the country' – Rafeef Ziadah
'Out-loud reactions are encouraged…shaking off traditional theatre etiquette' – Bristol 24/7
ACCESSIBILITY / SAFEGUARDING
Our events aim to be as safe, inclusive, accessible and welcoming as possible.
The venue has a wheelchair accessible entrance and accessible toilets.
If you have any particular access requirements or concerns, please email [email protected] in advance.
The event will include photography and videography.
SEATING / TIMINGS
Doors open at 7:00pm, and the bar will be open with a selection of drinks (alcoholic + non-alcoholic), cocktails and bar snacks.
The show begins at 7:30pm, so please arrive and be seated promptly. The event includes a 15 minute interval. We aim to finish at 9:30pm.
CONTENT WARNING
Poetry events include performers sharing personal accounts which you may relate to in some way. This may include content that is potentially upsetting or triggering. We provide a general content warning at the beginning of each event, and poets may choose to provide one for their own poem if necessary. Attendees are welcome to leave the venue at any time and return when they feel comfortable, but please try to do this before/after a poem.
SAFE SPACE
Raise the Bar has a zero tolerance policy towards hate, discrimination and abuse of any kind. Our staff team will work together to ensure the space is respectful and welcoming at all times. The open mic rules include 'no punching down' and 'no nudity', and a content warning will be provided at the start of the event.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
Our open mics are welcome to poets, rappers, storytellers, lyricists, songwriters, and wordsmiths of all styles and levels of experience, whether it's your first time or your 100th. If you'd like to sign up to perform, or just sit back with a beverage and listen to some of the city's finest wordsmiths, this is the evening for you.
16+ accompanied. Wheelchair accessible. Scroll down for further access and safeguarding information.
️27th March 2025
Easton Community Centre
Kilburn St, Easton, Bristol BS5 6AW
7:00pm doors | 7:30pm - 9:30pm show (including interval)
PWYC £5 / £7 / £9 (£4 concessions)
OPEN MIC:
This will be an opportunity to try out new material in a safe, warm environment hosted by Raise the Bar's compere extraordinaire Saili Katebe.
Open Mic List is now Full
A number of open mic spaces are reserved for writers from the global majority, marginalised genders and sexualities, non-male writers, and writers in outlying areas of Bristol or the South West.
FEATURE ACTS
TOM SASTRY
Tom Sastry is political, ironic, emotional, morbid and funny in all the wrong places. He has published two previous collections (both with Nine Arches) and one pamphlet. These have been (variously) Poetry School Book of the Year, Poetry Book Society pamphlet choice, highly commended in the Forward Prize and shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize.
Life expectancy begins to fall
‘I admire Tom Sastry’s poems for their clarity, complexity, and kindness. Here, they ask how to live well in this ‘Peri-Apocalypse’ – ‘halfway up the Anthropocene’ – while preparing for accelerating, calamitous futures, where ‘trouble grows from trouble’. Refusing the treadmill of ‘emotional correctness’ they riff wildly on AI poets, inverse A-Bombs and defrosting billionaires, but also our intimate moments where, ‘nothing happens, in the most lavish way’. On a very troubled planet, these poems celebrate the solace of pints with conspiracy theorists and taking part with all your foibles. Or quitting, which is OK too.’ – Caleb Parkin
YHONET GARCIA
Yhonet Garcia is a singer song-writer and poet from Venezuela, based in Bristol since 2013. Her poems and songs stem from her lived experience, navigating delicate subjects that reflect her healing journey after surviving violence and abuse when growing up in Venezuela. She writes about toxic relationships with the masculine, her relationship with her body, with her family, and the journey towards loving herself again. Topics that are uncomfortable but necessary; to give voice to those that haven't found theirs yet. Her voice is raw, poignant as well as vulnerable. She writes in English, Spanish and a combination of both. She did a Masters in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, where she wrote her first poetry manuscript, sharing her story of survival, migration, and reclaiming the power of her voice; once silenced. She works as a Creative Coach, workshop facilitator, and holds space with her music in plant medicine ceremonies. Music and words are the fuel that keep her heart pumping. Nature, animals and friends are the food that nourishes her when she feels the void inside. Her cat is the closest she's felt to being a mum.
You can connect with her on IG @yhonetcreative YouTube: Yhonet Garcia and website: www.creativejourney.art
RAISE THE BAR
The South West's leading live poetry night, running blockbuster spoken word events in Bristol and beyond since 2014.
‘From top to bottom, one of my all-time favourite shows’ – Shane Koyczan
'One of the best poetry nights in the country' – Rafeef Ziadah
'Out-loud reactions are encouraged…shaking off traditional theatre etiquette' – Bristol 24/7
ACCESSIBILITY / SAFEGUARDING
Our events aim to be as safe, inclusive, accessible and welcoming as possible.
The venue has a wheelchair accessible entrance and accessible toilets.
If you have any particular access requirements or concerns, please email [email protected] in advance.
The event will include photography and videography.
SEATING / TIMINGS
Doors open at 7:00pm, and the bar will be open with a selection of drinks (alcoholic + non-alcoholic), cocktails and bar snacks.
The show begins at 7:30pm, so please arrive and be seated promptly. The event includes a 15 minute interval. We aim to finish at 9:30pm.
CONTENT WARNING
Poetry events include performers sharing personal accounts which you may relate to in some way. This may include content that is potentially upsetting or triggering. We provide a general content warning at the beginning of each event, and poets may choose to provide one for their own poem if necessary. Attendees are welcome to leave the venue at any time and return when they feel comfortable, but please try to do this before/after a poem.
SAFE SPACE
Raise the Bar has a zero tolerance policy towards hate, discrimination and abuse of any kind. Our staff team will work together to ensure the space is respectful and welcoming at all times. The open mic rules include 'no punching down' and 'no nudity', and a content warning will be provided at the start of the event.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions
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