Isobel Colchester - CEO, Poet in the City

Isobel Colchester is Chief Executive of Poet in the City, an organisation which brings poetry to life beyond books, producing classic and contemporary performances taking on major ideas, issues and people. She has led its vision to bring live poetry to a wider audience since 2014, delivering ambitious projects in spaces across cities, including establishing a new music festival of Poetry & Lyrics, a national communities performance programme with the British Library, and filling St Paul's Cathedral with 2,000 Londoners to hear newly commissioned poetry designed to make Londoners feel at home in this iconic building. With a background in skills development, she is passionate about the links between arts and employability, and has created programmes to empower young people to access the arts and amplify their voice.