"Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Look to tomorrow. Rest this afternoon."
Snoopy

Hi! I'm Philip Cowell. I'm a freelance writer, facilitator, and creative development consultant for the inspirational theatre, Good Chance, with over 20 years' experience in the arts (Arvon, English PEN, The Walk) and sustainability (Abel & Cole, Here Design, Futerra). I also run the urban wonder non-profit Street Wisdom. My focus is on the role of creativity, imagination and community in helping us find new and better futures!

My focus

Arts
Art and theatre can change lives and change minds! At Good Chance, I lead on development to help create new art and theatre that contributes to our understanding of this beautiful, complex world in surprising ways that open up new possibilities for the future. I've worked on The Jungle in the US, The Walk in Europe, the world's biggest ever Afghan kite flying festival, Fly With Me, and the company's new climate crisis play, Kyoto.Walking
I love walking as a creative practice. I performed in Matthias Sperling's Walking Piece. I was head of creative development for Good Chance's The Walk. I'm on the online jury for walk listen create's Sound Walk September awards. At Street Wisdom, I programme and lead walking workshops to get people wandering outdoors for insights, ideas and intention, including a monthly online session with participants from all over the world. I'm part of the creative team behind the World Wide Wander.Writing
I'm a creative writer and the author of award-winning This Is Me, Full Stop (Penguin), Keeping A Journal (Sheldon Press) and Stress (with Lorraine Millard, Sheldon Press). I devise and lead creative writing workshops to get people curious about their way with words. I collaborate with amazing people like the singer-songwriter Helen Chadwick. My writing has appeared in Poetry Review, The Guardian, BBC Culture, Wanderful, POEM, Ambit, Butcher's Dog and others. My freelance writing offer is here.

Highlights

Fly With Me
Fundraised and developed the largest Afghan kite flying festival across UK and Europe, reaching 300 million people globally.The Walk
Fundraised and developed with a team £2.7m for The Walk, a major international puppetry project in support of refugees, created by Good Chance.Write & Shine
Led writing workshops for Gemma Seltzer's incredible early-morning writers, focusing on Friendship and Laughter.Words Into Song
Co-devised and led a series of 'creative writing for songs' workshops with the world's greatest singer/songwriter/composer Helen Chadwick.Wild Goose Writing
Led a series of embodied writing workshops, using the 'soft animal' of our bodies to explore and write.Advanced Disappointment for Beginners
Co-created with the remarkable Retta Bowen a fun workshop investigating this undersung hero of the emotional cabinet.This Is Me, Full Stop
Co-created and wrote a book for all ages for Penguin about the secret lives of punctuation marks with epic designer Caz Hildebrand.

Keeping A Journal
Wrote a book about mindful journal writing for Sheldon Press.Borough Yards
Helped the amazing team at FRA Creative find the words for their Borough Yards wayfinding (or wonderfinding) project.Balvenie Stories
Researched, interviewed, named and wrote the first stories for the new range of highly-well crafted whiskies.Herbs, Spices & Chillies
Researched and wrote for three books published by Thames & Hudson: Herbarium, The Grammar of Spice and An Anarchy of Chillies.Big Writing for a Small World
Fundraised for, and programmed, over 500 creative writing PEN workshops in refugee centres, prisons and schools.

Contacts

Get in touch with me here, go on.