Fun Palaces Weekend is the first weekend of October every year. The next Fun Palaces weekend is 30th Sept – 2nd Oct 2022.
A Fun Palace is…
Free: Free to enter, free to take part.
Local: A Fun Palace is by local people for local people – perhaps a group of neighbours, a residents’ association or friends getting together. If you are a venue, building or organisation, ‘local’ might mean your staff, the cleaners and businesses nearby. It also means those who live close but never visit, because they don’t think your space is for them. If you’re making a Fun Palace, we’d say don’t ‘deliver’ an event for those people hoping they will come, instead hand your space over and let them decide what happens. Pretty soon they’ll feel they own it. For TwoCan’s Fun Palace in Gloucester it meant working with the homeless person who slept in the doorway of their Fun Palace space – he joined in and it was his Fun Palace too.
For all ages: It’s often easier to think up activities for children. What about the 17-year-old who doesn’t consider themselves a child or the 75-year-old who never gets to play? Can we make Fun Palaces for everyone? We welcome children and young people as Makers in their own right; Arc Stockton’s 2016 Fun Palace was run by their young people’s group, as was Morden Hall Park’s Fun Palace at their National Trust property in 2017.
Inclusive: Most Fun Palaces are made with little or no budget, and even the smallest effort can help. Can you make sure your signs are easy to read? Consider access for wheelchair users? Are there groups in your local community you can invite to take part, who can share their own cultural interests? Thinking outside your usual circle can make a massive difference.
