Freddie Barker
“Worcester’s so vibrant. It’s so colourful,” says Freddie Barker, a University of Worcester graduate who is now Worcestershire’s youngest-ever Poet Laureate and the founder of the city’s student-led Speak Volumes Festival.
Freddie’s journey into the arts wasn’t always a given. “I was a bit scared off by GCSE poetry,” she admits. “But when I came to university, I joined the poetry society and found I really loved the community and the people.” That decision would go on to shape her creative identity and open doors she never imagined.
Now a graduate of Film Production and Screenwriting, Freddie is at the centre of Worcester’s cultural scene. Her year-long tenure as Poet Laureate, awarded by the Worcestershire Literary Festival and Fringe CIC, sees her performing at major events like the Ledbury Poetry Festival and Worcester Fringe. But her ambitions go beyond the stage.
“My goal is to bring poetry into the forefront of Worcester’s creative scene,” she says. “We have beautiful murals, we have buskers and musicians, but we don’t have a lot of poetry in our day-to-day lives. I want people from all walks of life to get involved.”
Freddie’s passion for making the arts accessible led her to create Speak Volumes, a three-day festival celebrating poetry, theatre, comedy, and craft. The idea was born under the Victorian railway arches of Worcester, where she and fellow students hosted a one-day pilot event for World Poetry Day.
“We had to arrange it in ten days from conception to execution and it was so successful,” she recalls. “We thought, ‘We should do more! We should make this bigger!’”
With support from the University and the local community, Speak Volumes grew into a full-scale festival, offering emerging artists a platform to perform, exhibit, and connect. “Being at the University of Worcester has genuinely opened so many doors for me,” says Freddie. “It has changed everything, from my confidence to my ability.”
Freddie’s story is a testament to the University’s role in nurturing creative talent—not just through academic study, but by encouraging students to shape the cultural life of the city itself.
“I’m a creative person and I feel like in Worcester, I can forge my own path,” she says. “But what I love about this city, for students, is that whether you’re studying science, medicine, art, drama, English, or geography, everyone finds something in the city’s arts scene which absolutely speaks to them.”
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