Future Generations Commissioner for Wales announces name of first Poet in Residence
28/2/19
Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is delighted to announce that performance poet Ruth Evans, pen name Rufus Mufasa, has been chosen as the very first Poet in Residence.
A year-long residency in partnership with Literature Wales, the poet will bring to life the work of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, the ground-breaking Well-being of the Future Generations Act, and promote Wales as a world-leader on sustainable development.
The poet has been awarded a bursary and an opportunity to be mentored by the National Poet of Wales, Ifor ap Glyn, throughout the duration of the residency.
Poet Rufus Mufasa said:
“It is an honour to be appointed the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales Poet in Residence.
“I want to make musical statistics, turn policies into poems, rap the rules for a brighter future and bring our collective ambition to transform our lives for the better into reality.”
Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales said:
“Finding inspiration and beauty in unusual places and representing different, often forgotten voices is one of the most striking features of Rufus’ work.
“We are excited to see how Rufus will creatively interpret the possibilities of our pioneering Act and hope that it will inspire in others the cultural change that is needed to ensure that we have a better life now and in the future.”
Rufus Mufasa is a pioneering participatory artist who advocates hip hop education and poetry development that is accessible to everyone. A Hay Writer at Work, Rufus also mentors inmates at Parc Prison and was the first Welsh artist to perform at Ruisrock festival, Finland.
The Well-being of Future Generations Act is unique, in that Wales are the only country in the world to have included culture in our definition of sustainable development; placing value on how a trip to your local museum to visiting the cinema can improve a person and community’s well-being.
