Commissions

Commissioned by Settle Stories for Yorkshire Festival of Story (supported by Arts Council England) to write The Yorkshire Poem in the seams again. 

Commissioned by Alumno to write two poems currently on permanent public display at Park Hill Sheffield We Were Never Derelict & The Great Ephemeral

Commissioned by Visual Verse to create poem Contrary to the Intangible Grapevine

Commissioned by BBC Radio Sheffield to write a poem on community-aid in support of the global pandemic Gather what you have 

Commissioned by University of the Underground to run a creative workshop & give a guest lecture for their education programme New Politics and Afrofuturism

Commissioned to curate and write a series of interviews with emerging artists for Pink Wafer

Commissioned by Now Then Magazine to perform poem & give short talk for Black History Month Ode To Black Thought 

Organised & curated the first poetry stage at Tramlines Festival called Speakers Corner

Organised & curated an original virtual event for Migration Matters Festival called Live From The Incubator

The University of Sheffield named Otis Mensah their Artist in Residence for 2020. Through Arts & Humanities Knowledge Exchange Otis was funded to facilitate a series of interactive events called Rhyme & Reason which creatively explored personal identity and pressing social issues through the lens of Hip-Hop, poetry and other culture media. For more details, check out Rhyme and Reason or the talks in full via YouTube

Other university funded work includes curating events for Sheffield Makes Music Festival and Off the Shelf, and writing commissioned poetry for Being Human Festival’s ‘Dreaming in the Renaissance’ event. Otis also ran a creative workshop for FirstGenSheffield, presented a sold-out public lecture on Hip Hop, Race and Philosophy, and taught on the School of English’s Black British module with Dr Alex Mason.