Poet and spoken-word artist Dominic Nelson-Ashley brings poetry and live music together in Poetic Symphony, an evening exploring identity, family, relationships, fatherhood, illness, community and contemporary life in the North East.
Performing alongside a group of musicians, Nelson-Ashley uses spoken word to examine both intensely personal experiences and wider events that have affected the community around him.
Among the subjects explored are his recovery from cancer and the Middlesbrough riots, alongside poems dealing with love, joy, identity and the experience of fatherhood.
The performance is described as a celebration of life — where people have come from, who they are and where they may be going.
Nelson-Ashley has established a significant presence within the cultural life of Teesside.
His work extends beyond performance into education, heritage and community activity, and he has publicly discussed subjects including the Windrush Generation, Black history and the role of education.
He has also worked to increase opportunities and visibility for Black and Asian writers and creatives in the North East.
That local dimension makes Poetic Symphony particularly interesting for Black History Month.
Black British history is sometimes presented primarily through national events or figures associated with London.
But Black communities have built lives and contributed to culture throughout Britain.
Teesside has its own histories of migration, industry, community, racism, creativity and social change.
Artists such as Nelson-Ashley form part of that continuing story.
Spoken-word poetry also has an important place within modern Black British cultural expression.
It creates space for experiences that may not appear in conventional historical records and allows questions of identity, belonging, memory and social change to be approached through individual voices.
It is important to be accurate about the Black History Month connection.
ARC does not currently advertise Poetic Symphony as an official Black History Month event.
Its relevance comes from Nelson-Ashley’s wider body of work, his engagement with Black history and Windrush, his position within the North East’s Black creative community and the fact that the performance takes place during October.
For audiences looking beyond conventional historical lectures and exhibitions, Poetic Symphony offers a contemporary North East voice exploring identity, place and lived experience.
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