Part of the Spittoon Arts Collective archive. Chengdu chapter launched 2016.
Taking the Model South
In 2016, Matthew Byrne approached Annie Leonard to head a Spittoon chapter in Chengdu. Annie — a writer, teacher, and dancer who had been involved in Chengdu’s literary scene since 2013 — held the first event at Mado Bar. It didn’t happen again for six months. But from February 2017, Chengdu became a regular monthly operation.
Growth was organic. The poetry nights became so popular that Annie had to turn people away — leading to the split into separate Spittoon Poetry and Spittoon Fiction nights. Annie described the evolution: “We have all matured as writers… The pieces that are shared up on the stage are clean, tight, impactful and engaging.”
Case Studies
Spittunes Chengdu — January 2019
Chengdu’s first Spittunes event paired poets with musicians drawing from hip-hop, spoken word, soul, and Nigerian vocal traditions. Hosted at Berlin Haus, it demonstrated that the format Matthew had developed in Beijing could travel — and find its own character in a new city.
First Chengdu Spittunes · Multi-genre · Berlin Haus
MEGACITY Chengdu — November 2019
As part of Spittoon’s first themed multi-city event series, Chengdu hosted a multi-day MEGACITY programme including a poetry performance workshop — Unlock Your Voice — an open mic, a Spittunes showcase, and a fiction night. Events spread across venues including Tongzilin International Community Center and the US Consulate-supported Chengdu Creative Culture Exchange Center.
Multi-day programme · 4 formats · Multiple venues including US Consulate-supported venue
Read the Chengdu Archive
Event write-ups and retrospectives from Spittoon Chengdu — republished from the original WeChat archive.
matthew-byrne.com 