About
Dan is a writer, facilitator, and creativity coach with over a decade of experience working in the creative industries, education sector, science and heritage settings, and with charities and businesses. With a commitment to supporting others’ wellbeing, he is passionate about the power of language and words to empower people – particularly in creativity, authenticity, and communication.
Poetry and Spoken Word
As a poet and spoken word artist, he makes contemporary work that is engaging, thoughtful, and responsive. Subjects include science and culture; history and place; wellbeing and personal experience; people and poetry. He is currently poet-in-residence at the National Memorial Arboretum, and a facilitator-mentor on Ideas Test’s Make Waves programme for young creatives.
A former Canterbury Laureate, Dan has previously been poet-in-residence at Glastonbury Festival, Imperial College London, National Trust Stowe, Chicago Botanic Garden, and St Albans Cathedral. He has been commissioned by and devised participatory poetry projects using crowdsourced poetry for Southbank Centre, Royal Academy of Arts, National Museum of Scotland, Association for Science and Discovery Centres, and the European Commission.
Dan has performed around the world - including at Glastonbury Festival, Chicago’s Uptown Poetry Slam, Sofar Sounds Auckland, on the BBC - and he has taken five solo shows to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Facilitation and Coaching
As a facilitator, Dan designs imaginative and reflective workshops that encourage participants to express themselves authentically and creatively. He has led professional and creative development sessions for BBC Wales and Imperial College London, organises and facilitates monthly social Connection Jam in Brighton, seasonal reflective writing club The Journal Circle online, and holds space at ecstatic dances and on retreats. An experienced educator, Dan is insightful, enthusiastic, and adaptable leader – working across all age ranges from primary to post-graduate.
Working one-to-one, Dan is a creativity coach passionate about supporting people to unlock and harness their innate creative gifts – and to make awesome art happen. He has a qualification in Counselling Skills, is trained in Authentic Relating and Wheel of Consent, and is Internal Family Systems informed.