If you have any particular access requirements or concerns, please email us in advance: hello@rtbspokenword.com

Eligibility

These courses and retreats are open to anyone over the age of 18, with priority given to applicants living in South West England, both at the time of application and throughout the duration of the course/retreat applied for. This area is defined as consisting of the counties of Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Candidates living outside this area are very welcome to apply but will initially be added to a reserve list. If we can't fill spaces from eligible candidates in the South West, we will offer spaces to suitable applicants on the reserve list.  

These courses are not designed for complete beginners and some experience of writing poetry is required for all applications. There is no cast-iron definition to determine the criteria of each course type, but the following lists may be useful in helping pick you the one that most accurately matches your level of experience:

An all levels / emerging poet:

• Will have less than 3 years experience as a writer/performer

• Will usually be active mainly in their local area, and be seeking to expand their profile

• May regularly attend poetry workshops and courses, or perform unpaid at open mics or slam competitions

• May have minimal experience of being published in journals/magazines/competitions

• May have a pamphlet or debut book of poems published

• May have some experience performing paid support slots at poetry events

• Will consider poetry to be more than just a hobby, seeking opportunities to develop their creative practice or professional skills

A post-emerging poet:

• Will have more than 3 years experience as a writer/performer, in a part-time capacity or as part of their profession

• Will usually make regular income from poetry-related work

• May have significant experience of being published in journals/magazines/competitions

• May have at least one full-length poetry collection, album or body of work

• May have significant experience headlining events and being paid for their work, including outside of their town/city/region

• May have performed, or been published, internationally

• May be paid to judge competitions or sit on panels

• May be paid to edit or mentor other poets’ work

• May have work commissioned by organisations on a semi-regular basis

• Will still be seeking to further their professional skills in order to become a more established poet with a full-time, or majority of their, income coming from writing/poetry-related work (including teaching, producing and facilitating)

Our performance retreat is open to all levels, including Emerging and Post-Emerging poets. Please note that performing your work in front of others is an integral requirement of this course and your application implies acceptance and a base level of comfort with this.

Inclusivity

A number of spaces on Raise the Bar’s courses and retreats are reserved for Black and Global Majority writers, and candidates from marginalised identities, and we aim to create an environment that is as safe and welcoming as possible. Raise the Bar is a trans-inclusive organisation and supports individuals’ right to self-identification. In the absence of explicit alternative clarification, the terms ‘male/men’ and ‘female/women’ should be assumed to include trans men and trans women respectively. The term non-binary should be assumed to include both AMAB* and AFAB** individuals. 

*AMAB - assigned male at birth

**AFAB - assigned female at birth

Code of Conduct

We expect all course attendees to treat each other with respect and will not tolerate racism, homophobia, ableism, sexism, ageism etc., or any conversation or poetic content which discriminates against a minority/marginalised group, or attacks someone in a less powerful position. RtB reserves the right to ask people to leave the course if this expectation is breached. 

During the course you may be invited to share your experiences and/or poetry. Please be mindful of others if you wish to share content which could be particularly triggering or upsetting - while we understand that writing is a powerful tool for understanding difficult experiences, these retreats are not safe containers for unprocessed trauma, and we request that people ‘share scars, not open wounds’. Our open mic rules of ‘no punching down’ and ‘no public nudity’ apply during our courses too! Each bedroom on weekend retreats has its own key and everyone’s privacy should be respected.

Accessibility

Performance retreat: The performance retreat will be held at the Clevedon Curzon cinema, Clevedon. Wheelchair users, or anyone requiring step-free access, can enter using the street level door by Teatro Café, along the side of our building on Great Western Road. This leads directly into the auditorium. An accessible toilet can also be found in the auditorium, near the exit, behind the red curtains.

Day retreats: The day retreats will be held at the Community Farm, Chew Valley. Car parking is available very close to the retreat venue. The venue has ramps and is wheelchair accessible. There is a ramp leading to the compost toilets and one of the toilets is wheelchair accessible. The pond area extends into the garden and the decking surrounding it is fully accessible. The garden area is uneven grass and may not be wheelchair accessible depending on weather/ mud/wheelchair type/wheelchair user’s comfort levels.

Weekend retreats: The weekend retreats will be held at Barley Wood, a historic 18th century house in Wrington, and former home of poet Hannah More. The ground floor has step-free access to the ground floor of the house. The conference and dining rooms are accessible for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility, as well as some of the gardens (depending on weather/ground conditions). The toilets on the ground floor are small with narrow doors and may be unsuitable for wheelchair/mobility aid users depending on model. There is no internal step-free access to any of the bedrooms - they can be accessed via a longer outside route, which is dependent on weather and type of mobility-aid. We also have an arrangement with the local Holiday Inn which would enable a retreat participant to stay off-site at the hotel in one of their fully accessible en-suite rooms, and be dropped off to/collected from Barley Wood each day. 

Poetry Courses: Our weekly course workshops will take place at M Shed and St Paul’s Learning Centre. Both venues are fully wheelchair accessible. For full access information for M Shed please click here, and for full access information for St. Paul’s Learning Centre please click here.

Payment Terms

Please note that application to one or more retreats does not guarantee acceptance, and that acceptance and attendance is conditional on meeting the eligibility criteria and paying the total required fee by the final payment date. 

• Day (including performance) retreats: If offered a place on a day retreat, you must accept via the acceptance form and pay 100% of the fee within 7 days of the offer email being sent. If you miss this deadline, your place will be offered to people on the waiting/reserve list. 

• Weekend retreats: If offered a place on a weekend retreat, you must accept via the acceptance form and pay 50% of the total fee within 7 days of the offer email being sent. If you miss this deadline, your place will be offered to people on the waiting/reserve list. 

You must pay the remaining 50% of the fee by the deadline on your offer letter. If you miss this deadline your place will be offered to people on the waiting/reserve list and you may not receive a full refund of any fees already paid. 

• Late offers: If you are offered a place less than one month prior to the start date of the course or retreat, you must accept via the acceptance form and pay 100% of the fee in one lump sum by the payment deadline in order to attend. The payment deadline will be given on your offer letter. 

No event payments may be made less than 2 week before the start date. This is to protect Raise the Bar financially and to ensure there is time to fill an unused place. The only exception to this is the performance retreat, for which no payment may be made less than 1 week prior to the event start date.

Refunds

The terms below apply if an applicant cancels their course attendance after having been offered and accepted a place, or if an applicant’s attendance is cancelled due to non-payment of due fees. 

• More than 8 full week’s notice prior to the event start date: RtB will refund 100% of any fees already paid minus a £25 administrative charge.

• Between 6-8 full week’s notice prior to the event start date: RtB will refund 75% of any fees already paid minus a £25 administrative charge. 

• Between 3-6 full week’s notice prior to the event start date: RtB will refund 50% of any fees already paid minus a £25 administrative charge.

• Less than 3 full week’s notice prior to the event start date: Candidates are not entitled to any refund for any fees already paid. 

Please note. If an applicant cancels with less than 8 week’s notice, RtB may attempt to fill their place at the same cost from other applicants on the waiting list, if we have the time and resources to do so. If we successfully fill the cancellation place and receive the full original fee from the replacement candidate, then we will refund the original candidate 100% of any of their course fees already paid, minus a £25 administrative charge. If we successfully fill the place at a lesser rate then we will refund that lesser amount to the original candidate minus a £25 administrative charge. Raise the Bar reserves the right to waive the administrative charge in exceptional circumstances, ‘exceptional’ to be defined by Raise the Bar and applied entirely at RtB’s discretion.

Bursaries

There are a limited number of bursary places available. These are to support applicants on low-incomes and/or based in outlying rural and remote areas of the South West, who would otherwise find it impossible to attend due to course/travel costs. Please note that application for these bursaries does not guarantee acceptance and RtB’s decision is final. Please consider your needs carefully before applying as there are limited bursaries available per retreat/course, and we are unlikely to be able to support everyone who applies.

Retreats:There are 2 bursary spaces available for each weekend retreat (priced at a discounted rate of £200), and 2 bursary spaces available for each day retreat (priced at a discounted rate of £40, or £35 for the performance retreat). Candidates attending weekend retreats via a bursary will be in lower-priced accommodation unless accessibility considerations require otherwise. There is also 1 travel bursary up to £50 maximum claim available for each retreat.

Courses:There are 2 course bursary spaces priced at a discounted rate of £150 maximum claim each), and 1 travel bursary (up to £50 maximum claim) available for each course. 

To claim a bursary in advance of your course/retreat start date, applicants must have already made at least part-payment on their course/retreat fees, at least equal to the amount they are claiming as a bursary. If an applicant later cancels their course/retreat attendance, any bursary already paid will be deducted from their course fee refund (if applicable - please see the Refund subsection of the Payment section of our Terms and Conditions for full details).

Accommodation 

All accommodation at the weekend retreats will be in solo-occupancy rooms. Some bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms. All shared toilet and bathroom facilities are single-person and multi-gender. There is a mix of room price, size and facilities, and occupancy will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis unless accessibility considerations require otherwise.

Last updated May 2026