Rachel Attfield is the producer at Fun Palaces and over the past 16 months has worked on a number of Fun Palaces projects, including curating and organising the tour of the Creative Voices, Activist Voices exhibition, and co-ordinating the Fun Palace Makers workshop tour. She is also an active member of her own community and very much enjoys making things – in particular traditional and forgotten crafts.

Fun Palaces have always been about putting culture at the heart of communities and communities at the heart of culture; here Rachel shares her thoughts on community, culture, creativity and coming together.

When we hear the word “community,” we often picture a group of people living side by side. But does simply sharing a postcode make us feel truly connected? In an age where loneliness is on the rise—even in the busiest cities—the need for true community has never been greater. Many are finding that it is through creative and cultural experiences that we can build bridges, spark friendships, and rediscover a sense of belonging. This year’s (2025) Fun Palaces Weekend celebration demonstrated again that creative and cultural experiences are powerful tools that unite us! Something that has been echoed by many that have taken part in Fun Palace’s over its 11 years.

It was fantastic! It brought together members of the community who don’t usually get the opportunity to get together” Fun Palace Participant.

The roots of the word “community” overlap with the word “common,” once describing an open space used by local people, often the poorest in society. Over time, “common” not only described a place but also became a marker of social identity, setting apart everyday people from nobility. Today, community is understood favourably to describe the things that connect us—where we live, what we believe, our backgrounds, and hobbies, sharing something in common with others. 

Across the centuries, many forces have chipped away at the fabric of community: industrialisation, urban renewal, the reduction of common land, a space which everyone has the right to use and access and the rising closures of free community spaces. Organisations like Campaign for the Commons are working towards increasing land rights, connecting people to natural landscapes. The Space Between is a campaign that raises awareness of a huge decline in community spaces, likely due to the 18% fall in local authority spending from 2022 to 2024. Findings show that around 81% of people recognise access to shared community spaces as vital to people’s overall wellbeing because they offer a space for social connections. Documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis explains how, in the last fifty years, a focus on individualism and consumerism has left many of us feeling isolated, even in a crowded world. Today, loneliness can touch anyone, at any stage of life. While technology can put the world at our fingertips, many still crave face-to-face connections and meaningful moments with others.

^{Photo credit Roswitha Chesher, Margate ARK Fun Palace 2025}

Coming together through creative and cultural events has demonstrated time and time again that one of the most valuable ways to connect is sharing what we love with others.  Fun Palaces are all about this, generating hubs of curiosity and creativity, where everyone’s invited to come together.

“I really felt that I had something to offer my community and that it was valued by those who participated” Fun Palace Participant.

Fun Palaces recent research, Creative Voices, Activist Voices, found that arts and cultural activities often led participants to become community activists, inspiring them to launch new projects or take on leadership roles—such as the volunteer who started out at a Fun Palace and ended up chairing a local charity. The ripple effects are powerful, and the stories are as diverse as the people involved.

Whilst there has been a noticeable increase in community centres closing their doors, a new kind of gathering place is beginning to flourish: allotments, community gardens and local food projects, pocket parks and food foraging. These green space projects often spring up on forgotten land, transforming neighbourhoods and bringing people together to grow, share, and celebrate. Take Manor Garden in Hackney, East London, where Turkish Cypriot growers cook their fresh produce on site—turning the allotment into a lively place for growers and their families to share their different cultures and stories through food.

Belonging to a community shapes every part of our lives, and more people than ever are finding creative ways to reconnect and build something meaningful together. At its heart, Fun Palaces are all about people coming together to share their skills, passions, and stories. As one Fun Palace maker put it, “When we share what we love, we build something bigger than ourselves.” 

If you’d like to make a Fun Palace in 2026, drop an email to amie@funpalaces.co.uk to say ‘hello’ and start a conversation.