Josie Carter →

Josie Carter is a poet, artist and community worker

whose work with words is ludic, experimental, and queerly, dubiously poetic. →

she works as a facilitator, convener and producer of socially-engaged artworks and projects with communities. →

she lives and works in Folkestone, Kent, U.K. →

here is her Instagram (she doesn’t use it that often). →

she is still not sure about writing poetry, even after all this.

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ongoing work and projects

Creative Producer January 2023–present KRAN x People United Co-Design Studio →

For People United’s collaboration with Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), I facilitate a group of Studio Producers with lived experience of the UK asylum system to commission and produce artworks for the public realm, investigating new methods of co-design and co-production.

Team Member, Artist-Facilitator January 2021–present The Community Table, Art Refuge →

With Art Refuge I support in delivering ‘The Community Table,’ a conceptual framework for providing mental health support and opportunities for creativity for displaced people in transit, including at The Napier Drop-in and Napier Barracks in Folkestone; asylum hotels in London; Secours Catholiqu e in Calais; The CÈDRE and Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers in Paris; alongside working on creative projects for the organisation.

Arts Coordinator May 2024–present Napier Friends →

With grassroots charity Napier Friends, I work onsite at Home Office accommodation Napier Barracks in Folkestone, supporting engagement from residents in wellbeing activities, volunteering, language learning and opportunities for connection with the local community, while co-ordinating arts activities on and offsite.

Co-founder, curator, producer October 2020–present Origins Untold →

I am a founding member of Origins Untold, a Black-led arts organisation that runs cultural and creative events for and by members of the African and Caribbean diasporas in Folkestone. Programming for Origins Untold from 2020 to 2023 has included two annual arts festivals celebrating Black History Month and Refugee Week. This project is on hiatus.

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selected poetry and performance

Performance 6 July 2024 ‘[in]Practice,’ with Art Refuge at [un]Reliable Witness, Gallery 46, London →

Performance 31 May 2024 ‘chalk, grass, land’ with Ray Carter at Soulscapes Lates for The Brixton Project X Dulwich Picture Gallery →

Performance 6 May 2024 Leftfolke Celebrates International Workers’ Day →

Performance 8 March 2024 ‘gaze: an evening of poetry’ at Take Up Space Festival (organiser and performer) →

Performance 6 December 2023 Leftfolke Food Solidarity Cabaret →

Publication November 2023 three poems: ‘transference • counter • transference,’ ‘obfuscations iv,’ ‘elogium for latin teacher’ (trans. Linnea Frank) for Ord&Bild Vol 5. 2023: ‘Hauntings’ →

Performance 19 November 2023 ‘Hauntings’ Exhibition Closing Party →

Exhibition November 2023 installation ‘obfuscations i, ii, iii’ (triptych) at ‘Hauntings,’ The Brewery Tap UCA Project Space →

Performance 25 October 2023 ‘resting: an evening of poetry’ with Ray Carter for Origins Untold Festival 2023: ‘re-setting’ (organiser and performer) →

Workshop 9 September 2023 ‘chalk, grass, land’ with Ray Carter and Dr Frederika Tevebring for SALT + EARTH Festival →

Contributing Artist September 2023 SALT + EARTH Festival, with Ray Carter as Origins Untold →

Performance 29 June 2023 reading of new work at Folkestone Pride →

Performance 1 May 2023 ‘chalk, grass land’ with Ray Carter at Jack in the Green, Hastings

Podcast 12 March 2023 ‘Poetic Convo: Episode 1’ with Michał K Piotrowski for ArtBlab →

Performance 18 February 2023 reading at ‘This Is My Goddamn Poem’ launch at The Folkstone Bookshop →

Performance 28 January 2023 reading at Beyond Text Experimental Poetry Festival, online →

For a full list of poetry performances and projects, please contact me.

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community practice and facilitation

Workshop upcoming October 2024 ‘Putting Ourselves in the Picture: Phase II’ with Aida Silvestri, Autograph ABP and Rainbow Sisters

Project culminating September 2024 ‘The Body as Data.’ Co-faclitation of two workshops and two walks with Tom Tegento and Farida Yesmin; poetry commission; exhibition and reading. →

Project culminating December 2023 ‘’Living Seams’ with Art Refuge for Atelier Armonico. Co-facilitation of three workshops; exhibition. →

Workshop 15 November 2023 ‘Writing Home: Myth, Letters and Refugee Wellbeing’ with Art Refuge and King’s College London at the Napier Drop-in Centre, for Being Human Festival 2023 →

Project 13 April, 16 May, 27 September 2023 ‘because I love myself’ radical love poetry workshops with Rainbow Sisters →

Project culminating March 2023 ‘Letters of Refuge’ with Art Refuge for King’s College, London. Co-facilitation of two workshops; poetry commission; exhibition and reading. →

Workshop 13 October 2022 ‘Our Screen Heritage X Origins Untold Takeover Tour’ with Ray Carter, for Origins Untold , Folkestone Pride and Our Screen Heritage. Co-facilitation of an exhibition tour, discussion and community meal. →

Workshop 22 July 2022 ‘We Belong Here’ with Ray Carter, for Origins Untold at Folkestone Pride 2023. Co-facilitation of a drop-in creative workshop. →

Project culminating June 2022 ‘Untitled Flower Project’ as part of ‘Right To Know’ with Aida Silvestri for Counterpoints Arts and NHS England South-East. Co-facilitation of eight workshops, resulting in a collaborative poetry and photography series. →

Workshop 24 July 2021 ‘Putting Ourselves in the Picture’ workshop with Aida Silvestri, Autograph ABP and Rainbow Sisters. Facilitation of two workshops and editorial support to participants’ poetry, culminating in an exhibition and a publication. →

For a full list of co-designed, co-created and facilitated community projects, please contact me.

chalk, grass, land workshop with Ray Carter [left] for SALT + EARTH Festival, Folkestone, 2023 © Joe Hill

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programming, curatorial and exhibitions

Exhibition 17–23 June 2024 ‘Our Home’ with Napier Friends for Refugee Week 2024 at The Brewery Tap UCA Project Space, Folkestone (curator). Pop-up featuring work by residents of Napier Barracks. →

Community Programme 2–15 October 2023 ‘re-setting’ with Origins Untold for Black History Month 2023 (programmer). Multiple venues in Folkestone: artists’ mini-residencies; community events. →

Screening 22 October 2023 ‘black outside: meditations on land’ with Origins Untold for Folkestone Documentary Festival 2023 (guest-programmer). Screening of three short films, Q&A, group walk, community meal. →

Exhibition and Community Programme 1–31 October 2023 ‘presence’ with Origins Untold for Black History Month 2022 (curator). Exhibition and wrap-around programme across three venues in Folkestone and Hythe: artist’s residency and screening, artists’ roundtable, workshops. →

Exhibition and Community Programme 19-25 June 2023 ‘So Far’ with Toby Melville Brown, Origins Untold and Art Refuge for Refugee Week 2023 (curator, producer). Pop-up exhibition of community-based illustration project by Toby Melville Brown and residents of Napier Barracks, workshops, wrap-around programme. →

Screening 23 October 2022 ‘Rebel Dread’ with Origins Untold for Folkestone Documentary Festival 2022 (guest-programmer). Screening, community meal, roundtable discussion. →

Event 27 June 2022 ‘Little Amal: The Walk’ with Origins Untold and Folkestone Fringe for Refugee Week 2022 (community partner). Collaborator on the return of Good Chance Theatre ’s project Little Amal to Folkestone. →

Exhibition and Community Programme 20–26 June 2022 ‘movement’ with Origins Untold and Art Refuge for Refugee Week 2022 (co-curator, programmer). Pop-up exhibition, workshops, community meal and party. →

Screening 13 November 2021 ‘Handsworth Songs’ with Origins Untold for Folkestone Documentary Festival 2021 (guest-programmer). Screening, roundtable discussion. →

Exhibition and Community Programme 1-31 October 2021 ‘Who Do You Think We Were’ with Origins Untold for Black History Month 2021 (co-curator, programmer). Exhibition, creative workshops and talks in Folkestone and Hythe. →

Community Programme 14-26 August 2021 ‘Origins Untold Summer Programme’ with Origins Untold (co-curator, programmer). Creative workshops, talks and community gatherings in Folkestone. →

For more details of my work curating and producing events with Origins Untold, please visit originsuntold.com or contact me.

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other work

From January to March 2024, I was a volunteer at the Refugee Women’s Centre, working in the field with displaced women and families in Dunkirk and Calais. →

From April to June 2023, I was a copy-editor and assistant on Aida Silvestri’s photography project ‘inLIMBO’, editing participant testimonials and exhibition texts. →

From 30 March to 6 April 2023, I was selected to be a participant on Kairos Europe’s CURVE training programme, a week-long study visit to Reggio Calabria, Italy to develop understanding of dilemmas faced by migrants to Southern Europe from outside the EU.

Since March 2023, I have been a member of the Performing Arts Subcommittee to the Board of Creative Folkestone. →

Throughout 2023, I took part in the filming of a documentary, ‘Blue Has No Borders’ (dir. Jessi Gutch) as one of its subjects. The film is forthcoming in 2025. →

I have been a regular volunteer at the Napier Drop-in Centre since January 2022. →

In addition to being a poet, performer, facilitator and multi-purpose arts-and-culture worker, I have also worked as a project manager, administrator and service worker with a background in local authority safeguarding administration. Just in case that’s interesting. →

I love making little books and hope to collaborate on producing them at (still small-ish!) scale with my friend Linnea Frank sometime soon.

I sometimes host talks, panels and events. Recently, I have hosted authors Jacqueline Crooks and Fiona Williams at Faversham Literary Festival, director Andy Munday-Castle at Folkestone Documentary Festival, poet Peter Scalpello at The Folkestone Bookshop, participants to Aida Silvestri’s project inLIMBO at Autograph ABP, and, at Folkestone Book Festival, authors Johnny Pitt, Roger Robinson, and Emma Dabiri.