Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation
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| Legal status | Registered charity |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London |
| Location | |
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Chief Executive
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Graham Henderson |
| Website | www |
The Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It was set up to take advantage of the gift, in a legacy, of the property at 8 Royal College Street in the London Borough of Camden, the house occupied by the French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine when they lived in London in 1873.
The Foundation intends to create a "poetry house" at 8 Royal College Street. It also seeks to promote Anglo-French cultural exchange, including live events, artists’ residencies and educational programmes aimed at giving opportunities to young people in both France and the UK.
The Foundation is managed by a Board of English-speaking and French-speaking trustees, chaired by David Ure.
The Foundation was initiated by Poet in the City, which inherited a campaign to create an Anglo-French cultural centre at Rimbaud and Verlaine's former home. The campaign to save the house was run over many years by Gerry Harrison, a Camden councillor, during the process of which many celebrities have rallied to the cause, including the actor Simon Callow, the writers Julian Barnes,Lisa Appignanesi and Tracy Chevalier and the rock star Patti Smith. In 2007 the house was bought and fully restored by a new owner who has agreed to give the house for use as an Anglo-French cultural centre. Poet in the City, and now the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation, with the support of the Fondation D'Enterprise L-A Finances pour la Poésie in Paris and the law firm Herbert Smith, are seeking to raise money for a maintenance fund, allowing for the creation of a "poetry house" at 8 Royal College Street.
The Foundation's chief executive (since April 2014) is Graham Henderson who was previously chief executive of Poet in the City. A qualified solicitor, who worked as a commercial litigation lawyer at Clifford Chance and Freshfields, his career has spanned both the City of London and the arts. From 2000 to 2001 he was responsible for creating and marketing specialist dance and music activity holidays for Dance Holidays Ltd and WOMAD. In 2003 he produced Coach of Black Water, an exhibition of Cuban art photographs, which took place at the Menier Gallery in Southwark. In 2004 he launched The Company of Adventurers Ltd in an attempt to raise funding for independent arts and cultural documentary films. In 2005 he was responsible for arranging the translation and publication of Kindred Spirits, a collected edition of poems by the great Cuban poet Regino E Boti, known as "the poet of Guantanamo", which was published by Mango Publications. In 2010 he was elected as a member of the Culture Forum, consisting of representatives from twenty six leading arts organisations, and supported by Arts & Business and the National Campaign for the Arts.
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