StAnza: About the Organisation
Drawing by Jenny Soep from StAnza 2008 programme
StAnza's mission is to bring to audiences the best of poets, and practitioners in related art forms worldwide. Over the years StAnza has featured a strong list of leading poets based in Scotland as well as Scottish poets from England, Canada and the USA . The festival has programmed numerous poets from the four UK nations as well as from over 20 countries worldwide, with regular appearance by leading American poets since 2001.
StAnza also actively promotes readings in foreign or minority languages and has featured poets reading in many of the national languages of Europe, as well as in regional languages and dialects, not forgetting its regular showcasing of Gaelic and Scots poets.
Other than readings, the festival features performances, in conversations, an annual lecture and discussion, workshops and masterclasses, children’s events, stand-up sessions and book launches involving editors, publishers, critics, academics and writers in other genres. Songwriting, film and exhibitions have played a major part in the festival in recent years.
The StAnza organisation was founded in 1997 by three St Andrews-based poets, Brian Johnstone, Anna Crowe and Gavin Bowd, the first two of whom are still involved in its running. The first StAnza Poetry Festival took place in 1998, launching on National Poetry Day. StAnza continued to be held each October until its relaunch as a spring festival in 2003, from which time it has been held annually in March.
StAnza has now grown to be recognised as the major poetry event in Scotland, attracting audiences from across the country and beyond. It is one of the principal poetry festivals with a nationwide reputation operating in the UK and has been recognised as a major European festival of poetry through its involvement with Poetry International, Berlin’s European Poetry Festivals Conference.
Drawing
by Gerald Manganfrom StAnza 2001 programme
Subsequent developments saw StAnza becoming a registered charity in 2001. In 2003 the organisation was reformed as a charitable company limited by guarantee under a board of trustees to whom the paid officials – the Festival Director, Artistic Director and Press & Media Manager – are directly responsible. StAnza is an Inland Revenue recognised charity.
The festival is put together by a planning committee formed of volunteers drawn from the local, student and academic communities who plan, organise and develop the programme, meeting throughout the year under the chairmanship of the Festival Director. The committee is supported by various voluntary educational, legal and financial advisors.
StAnza directorial responsibility is split
between Festival Director Brian Johnstone and Artistic Director Eleanor Livingstone. The Chair of the StAnza Board, elected in 2006, is Colin Will, former Chair of the Scottish Poetry Library. Brian Johnstone is one of the three festival founders and served as Chairman from 1998 until 2001 and Admin Director until 2003 when he was appointed by the board as Festival Director. Eleanor Livingstone joined the planning committee as a volunteer in 2003 and was appointed Artistic Director in 2005.
StAnza funding, from the festival's inception in 1998, has been received principally from the Scottish Arts Council. This has increased steadily over the years, being effectively doubled in the years 2002/3 & 2203/4. Regular funding contributions have been received from Fife Council Arts Development and, since 2003, from various sections of The University of St Andrews. The festival is, however, fully independent of all of these organisations.
StAnza's 10th birthday cake courtesy of sponsors Fisher & Donaldson
Since 2001 international funding for specific events has been received from various international arts bodies, embassies, consulates and foreign cultural institutes.
Principal corporate sponsors for the festival's first three years were St Andrews law firm Pagan Osborne, with the international hoteliers St Andrews Bay fulfilling this role from 2001 until 2006 when Waterstone’s Booksellers became major sponsor. StAnza also has a strong record of small scale financial support from a broad-based list of local sponsors.
StAnza - Scotland's Poetry Festival is a private company limited by guarantee and registered under the Companies Acts (Registered No. SC253342). Recognised by the Inland Revenue as a Scottish Charity (Charity No. SC 031789).
StAnza is a fully independent festival funded by the Scottish Arts Council, with contributions from Fife Council and the University of St Andrews.