Join The Laboratory of Fun!
Ever wanted to put on an event or get people in your neighbourhood together for something, but didn’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re already planning one and could do with a bit of help along the way?
The Laboratory of Fun is a series of online workshops for anyone who wants to bring their community together. Maybe you’ve got a spark of an idea. Maybe you’ve already said yes to something and you’re quietly panicking. Maybe you’ve done this loads of times and just want some fresh thinking. Pull up a chair. This is all for you!
We’ll cover all the practical stuff like finding a venue, getting funding, spreading the word, looking after your volunteers, surviving the paperwork. But more than that, we want to explore what happens when people who care about where they live decide to do something about it. Because that’s when the brilliant stuff starts.
“Most of the best community events don’t start with a plan. They start with someone saying “what if we…?” over the fence, in the queue at the shops or halfway through a cuppa they weren’t planning on having. And then somehow (messily, imperfectly, brilliantly) something happens!”
The spark is the easy part. These workshops are here to help you turn it into something real.
There will be nine workshops (all free!) running through June and July.
Each one stands alone, so dip into whichever ones you need most, or go the whole hog and join the full series as your very own ‘summer school’ in community-making.
No jargon and ‘no right way to do it’, just a cosy space full of people figuring this out together, along with our expert and experienced community Makers. Everything we’ll share comes from twelve years of Fun Palaces happening across the UK and beyond, and from the real experiences of Makers who’ve once stood exactly where you are now, wondering if they could really pull this off. (Spoiler: they could, and so can you!)
“It cuts across the generations, across class, across gender and culture,
Fun Palace Maker, Grays, Essex
bringing together a community with its own unique heritage, history and memory… and above all is FUN!”
Fun Palaces has always believed that every community is packed with genius… and that the people who live there are the best ones to unlock it. You don’t need permission, qualifications, experience or a big budget. You just need to care about the people around you and be willing to give it a go.
So. What if you just… signed up?
Pick one. Pick a few. Pick the lot. Let’s get started!
Laboratory of Fun Workshops
Browse the workshops below and book a space on any that you like – they are all free!
How to engage your community
Finding your people, your place and what’s already on your doorstep
The best community events start with a conversation.. a chat with a neighbour, a message in a local group, a knock on someone’s door. This session is about those first steps: finding a venue, tapping into the skills people already have, and reaching the people who don’t yet know they’re invited.
📅 Thursday 4th June 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone with an idea for a community event who isn’t sure where to begin, or anyone who wants to get better at reaching people beyond their usual crowd.
Does everyone feel welcome?
Making your event accessible and inclusive
“Everyone’s welcome” on a poster isn’t enough if your venue has no step-free access, your timing clashes with Friday prayers, or your publicity only reaches the people who already know you. With expert advice from our fab accessibility consultant, Faith, this session looks at what genuine inclusion means in practice.
📅 Thursday 11th June 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Everyone. Seriously! Whether you’ve never thought about accessibility before or you want to make sure you’re not missing something, this session will challenge and support you in equal measure.
Make some noise
An introduction to activist event-making
Maybe your event isn’t just about bringing people together for fun, maybe it’s about standing up for something too. Led by Ria, our brilliant Campaigns Co-ordinator, this is a light-touch introduction to giving your community event an activist edge without losing the joy.
📅 Thursday 18th June 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who cares about a cause (like climate, housing, green spaces, local services, anything!) and wants to weave it into a community event and bring people along with you.
I hate numbers!
Managing a small event budget and ideas for funding
If “budget” makes you want to lie down in a dark room, you’re in the right place. We’ll cover ideas to fund your event, and how to run a simple budget to keep track of your event spending.
📅 Thursday 25th June 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who needs money for their event and doesn’t know where to start or anyone who’s got some funding and wants to keep it organised without a spreadsheet meltdown.
Get the word out
Free and low-cost marketing ideas, PR and social media basics
You’ve planned something brilliant… Now you need people to actually know about it! Packed with practical tips from Chama, our Marketing Manager, this session covers everything from social media posts to getting your local paper interested.
📅 Thursday 2nd July 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who just wants to feel more confident about getting the word out without spending a fortune or feeling stuck with social media platforms and how to create more buzz.
Get creative with Canva
Make your own posters, flyers and social media graphics
You don’t need to be a designer to make something that looks brilliant. This hands-on session walks you through Canva step by step, and you’ll leave with something you’ve actually made… plus ready to use free templates to use again and again.
📅 Thursday 9th July 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who’s ever stared at a blank page and thought “I can’t do this.” You absolutely can, and we’ll prove it!
It’s all about the teamwork
Getting people on board, sharing the load and looking after each other
You can’t do it alone, and you shouldn’t have to. This session covers how to build a team, share decisions and make sure your volunteers feel valued enough to come back next time. Because the people behind the event matter just as much as the people who turn up.
📅 Thursday 16th July 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who’s trying to do everything themselves (please stop), anyone who wants to involve more people, or anyone who’s ever lost a volunteer and wondered why.
The boring but essential one
Consent forms, risk assessments, DBS checks and everything else you’d rather avoid
Once this stuff is sorted, it’s sorted… and it’s nowhere near as painful as you think. We’ll walk you through the legal and safeguarding essentials, and hand you the toolkits and templates to make it simple. Rip off the plaster, then get back to the fun stuff.
📅 Thursday 23rd July 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Literally anyone planning a community event. This is the session you think you don’t need until you really, really do.
Everyday Culture: It already belongs to you
What culture really means – and why it’s already yours
Culture isn’t something that happens in galleries to people who know the right things to say. It’s the things your community already does… the cooking, the making, the fixing, the sharing. Led by our producer and culture specialist, Rachel, this session celebrates what’s already brilliant about where you are and explores what happens when communities like yours start connecting with each other.
📅 Thursday 30th July 6pm – 7pm BST
📌 Online, Zoom
Who is this for? Anyone who’s ever thought “but I’m not creative” or “my community doesn’t really do culture.” You’re wrong, and this session will show you why.
Not sure which ones to pick?
Take them all! It’s free and together they give you everything you need to plan, promote, fund and run a community event from scratch. Think of it as your “summer school in community-making and organising”!
Or just start with the one that answers the question you’re asking right now. There’s no wrong way to do this.
Every session is free. Every session is open to everyone.
Why 'Laboratory of Fun'? The name is a nod to Joan Littlewood, the radical theatre director who dreamed up the original Fun Palace in the 1960s. She called it a 'laboratory of fun' and a 'university of the streets'... a space where anyone could experiment, learn and create. The building was never built, but the idea never went away. These workshops are our version of that same spirit: a place to experiment, mess about with ideas and figure things out together."
“It is a real chance to make real connections and real friends, to learn from each other and to celebrate what is unique and exciting about our town and the people who live here.”
Fun Palace Maker, Royal & Derngate, Northampton
Questions? Get in touch at hello@funpalaces.co.uk for a chat about the Laboratory of Fun and we’ll point you in the right direction.