Cugoano Changemaker · First cohort
Vignesh Venkataramaiah
Vig is a Birmingham-based poet, performer, producer and multidisciplinary artist working across poetry, film and community storytelling. His practice explores identity, memory and belonging, and how creative work can connect people and challenge taboos.
Read Vignesh’s introduction
A little more
about Vignesh.
I’m Vig, a Birmingham-based South Asian poet, performer, producer and multidisciplinary artist. My practice sits between poetry, performance, film and community work, exploring identity, memory, belonging and the contradictions of contemporary Britain. I’m interested in making work that can move between stages, screens, classrooms and community - using storytelling as a vehicle for connection and challenging taboos.
A winner of the IYA Arts & Culture Award 2026, Birmingham’s Run Your Mouth Winners’ Slam and the London Genesis Poetry Slam, I’ve performed at festivals and venues including Hay, Wolverhampton, Sutton and Cheltenham Literature Festivals, We Out Here, Young Poets Summit and Gunnersbury Park Museum, as well as internationally in Brooklyn and Bangalore. Alongside my creative practice, I’m Regional Producer and Host of Poets Palace Birmingham and a Youth Advisor for Young Minds and Punch Records.
I joined Cugoano to deepen my practice, learn from other artists and explore how creativity, heritage and collective action can contribute to wider social change.