Ballarat-based creatives are stitching together poetry and music at a free outdoor event in the Botanical Gardens at the weekend.
Megan J Riedl will be performing her first spoken word event for 2023 on Sunday and hopes it can be an accessible entry point into poetry for anyone.
"It's very emotive, it's engaging and hopefully will make people think and feel," she said.
Riedl said her background in theatre meant she was able to craft and practice a performance when reading poetry.
"It's not so much just reading straight off a page," she said.
"It's not reading aloud, it's performing the poetry in a way that's really engaging."
The event will be held in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, with those interested in attending encouraged to bring their own picnic and chairs.
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Riedl will be performing alongside local band The Winter Berries. The two acts will be alternating for most of the show, but will come together at the end for a joint performance.
Riedl is also planning to run a crowdsourced poem where the audience suggests words and she puts it all together during the event.
This is something she has not done before.
"It will test my muscles, because I won't really have time to edit it or finesse it in any way," she said.
"It will be really raw, it might be a disaster, but that's part of the fun."
While this part of the performance might be a bit of an experiment, Riedl said she hoped it could show the audience poetry was open to everyone.
"You don't need a degree or [study] for years to be a poet," she said.
"You can just write down what you feel and what comes to you in the moment."
Ballarat Libraries is supporting the event, helping make it free to attend.
Riedl said it was great to see support for live writing events.
"Sometimes poetry can feel like it's a really elitist field," she said.
Sunday's event runs between 3pm to 4pm.
Visit Poetry in the Park Humanitix website to reserve your free space.
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Nieve Walton
Nieve covers federal and state politics for The Courier focusing on Ballarat, Wendouree, Eureka and Ripon electorates. She also covers Hepburn and Pyrenees shires. As a former dancer and art and theater enthusiast she would love to hear about your latest art exhibition or performance. You can send her an email at nieve.walton@thecourier.com.au
Nieve covers federal and state politics for The Courier focusing on Ballarat, Wendouree, Eureka and Ripon electorates. She also covers Hepburn and Pyrenees shires. As a former dancer and art and theater enthusiast she would love to hear about your latest art exhibition or performance. You can send her an email at nieve.walton@thecourier.com.au
