Award-winning poet, presenter, producer and director, Dean Atta, was the man behind Silence Is Not Golden – the astounding spoken word poetry, theatrics, music and dance youth event Ctrl.Alt.Shift had the pleasure of witnessing last week. The 25 year old Londoner is currently Associate Artist at the Broadway, a member of Lyric Hammersmith Young Writers, Creative Director of the Rhyme's Won't Wait collective, and a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective; a very busy man to say the least. Nevertheless, Carissa Yeboah was lucky enough to catch a quick interview and ask Dean some questions about his driving force to ensuring young people’s voices are heard, his poetry his projects, and how he thinks the next generation can play their part in shaping global issues…

Describe the aim/purpose of Silence Is Not Golden…?
Silence Is Not Golden is about empowering young people to express themselves and their opinions through the creative arts. It’s also a platform for youth in the borough to work with local artists on issues that are making an impact in their community and putting forward challenging work to the stage.

When and how did this idea spring to mind?
In November 2009, I was nominated for and won the Spirit of London Award for Achievement through the Arts. As a nominee, I was invited to 10 Downing Street for a reception with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his wife Sarah and others including my local MP Dawn Butler. I spoke to them about how the arts is a great way to engage young people in important issues and how I’d like to do a creative project around politics. I went home and wrote a blog about my day at No. 10, posted it on my Facebook, and also forwarded it to my friends. Shabnam Shabazi (Shabz), Participation Manager at the Broadway, invited me to discuss a citizenship and human rights participation project. After several meetings, Silence Is Not Golden was born.

How did you come up with the name ‘Silence Is Not Golden’?
Silence Is Not Golden is a line from one of my poems called ‘Revolution Awaiting Warriors’: “Silence is not golden…Silence is the truth, stolen”.

You have quite an impressive CV. Who has influenced you to become a poet and work alongside the artists/organisations you have?
Quite a few people stand out actually; Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Benjamin Zephaniah, Maya Angelou, Jay-Z. To me, the combination of rap and poetry grabs your attention; it’s an effective way for a voice to be heard and a way to reach out to young people no matter what kind of music you listen to. Traditional forms of rallying still inspire me and are still really successful, but I’ve found my way of speaking out and that’s mainly through my poetry.

How important is it for you to have a message in your poetry?
Having a message is a very important part of my poetry. I talk about my mixed heritage, being gay, not having a father around - all issues people can relate to. Sometimes my poems are militant and sometimes they are sensitive, and the outcome is that my poetry - depending on the tone - will have different effects and will stir up different emotions in people.

In your opinion, what are your messages to get young people involved in reducing poverty in developing countries?
Buying Fairtrade is definitely at the top of my list. Whether it’s buying clothes, trainers, chocolate, sugar, bananas, tea, coffee are anything else, you are contributing and supporting such an important organisation and still getting your product which doesn’t have ‘blood on it’s hands’.

What single thing would improve the world?
(Pause)… that’s quite a difficult one ha ha! I’ll come back to that...

What is the closest you’ve come to experiencing poverty?
I’m a starving artist for a start! (laughs). On a serious note, I’d have to say living in a bed and breakfast when I was younger as my mum was declared homeless. I have family in Jamaica who live in an area called Portland Cottage. My family by trade are fishermen, but because they live really close to the sea their home has flooded a few times. Yet despite their hardships, they still manage to be happy and content with the things they have. If there’s a power cut, everyone still manages to laugh and see the funny side rather than being serious and annoyed.

What gets you serious and annoyed?
Greed. The kind of people that can’t see past themselves, using their status to benefit only themselves. Artists should use art for social change instead of purely for business. We have been given a gift to share, not to capitalise on.

Any traits you dislike about yourself?
I always try and do too much. I say yes to almost everything, but luckily these are mostly collaborations so at least someone is sharing the workload with me. But I’m so passionate about everything and want to get involved in everything that it’s hard for me to say no - so it can get quite stressful.

You obviously work hard - what do you consider your greatest achievement?
I’ve been privileged enough to collaborate with so many talented people, meet lots of interesting people, winning the Spirit of London Award and having the chance to meet the Prime Minister. I’ve also had commissions to write for Maya Angelou’s 80th Birthday and the National Portrait Gallery. But most of all, I’ve made my mum proud.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you so far?
There’s not enough hours in the day. Discrimination, homophobia, racism and all the other social evils in society never sleep, so we that fight against it sleep very little.

So, anymore thoughts about what single thing would improve the world?
Yes! Listening to young people - there’s so many things 16 year olds can do, so why are they not allowed to vote? It’s what the British Youth Council are fighting for because they know young people are often taken for granted and not given a voice to speak out. It would make such a big difference in this country and because we come from a powerful country, it would have a positive impact on the rest of the world and may even inspire other countries to do the same.

Words: Carissa Yeboah

Photo: Flickr user Louis Antwi