INSPIRED by TV talent show The Voice, Stroud poet Adam Horovitz has just launched an internet-based funding bid to bring the voices and thoughts of the nation's children to the fore, using speech and writing workshops and filming the results for a competitive website called The Inner Voice.

"I was immediately taken by The Voice because of the way it encourages people to just sing well and actually develop themselves as singers," he said. "It occurred to me, whilst watching, that this sort of structure and attitude could do with being applied to poetry, to the inner voice that feeds poetry. Poetry is, to me, first and foremost a form of music that risks being drowned out in the giddy rush of the 21st century.

"I would like to get children writing and performing their own work, and through this, to learn how to read the music of poetry, not just the words. I want to set up a programme of workshops that can be taken into schools, arts centres, museums, colleges, anywhere that wants them in fact, workshops that get children writing poetry and then coach them in reading it to the very best of their ability.

"This will feed into the Inner Voice website, which will be lightly competitive, offering videos of children reading poems that will not be visible, only audible, which can then be voted on. The poems that receive the most votes will be permanently archived on the website and revealed in full video as well as audio.

"I already have a couple of schools interested in participating if funding becomes available, and the Stroud Museum in the Park has agreed to act as a partner venue in the project.

"The aim of The Inner Voice is not just a bid to increase the understanding and popularity of modern poetry; it is also about increasing confidence in children by helping them to feel free and easy enough to develop their own ideas and helping them to speak these ideas comfortably in public. And if the process also happens to discover the next Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes or Benjamin Zephiniah along the way, so much the better!

"My campaign aims to raise funds to allow poets to work in the community with schoolchildren - and eventually adults - to instill in them the confidence and freedom of their inner voices by getting them to write, and most importantly, learn how to speak their work with confidence.

"This cannot be done without support, and in an age of cuts and austerity, the best way is to go to the people to whom the confidence and intelligence of children means most; the general public.

"I will also be offering a number of perks for people who contribute: from acknowledgement on the Inner Voice website to limited edition poster poems and even private poetry readings or workshops in the venue of your choice, from your front room or local school to a field somewhere.

"I hope you can help make this a reality."

If you think you might be able to help Adam achieve this, and to find out more about The Inner Voice and crowd-sourced funding, please follow this link - www.indiegogo.com/the-inner-voice