Creative Voices, Activist Voices
An exhibition by Fun Palaces and Dr Katy Pilcher
Sensory stories of creative communities
Can finding your creative voice unlock your activist voice?
To find out, Fun Palaces and sociologist Dr Katy Pilcher of Aston University asked Fun Palace Makers across the UK. They answered with stories, photographs, recordings – and the objects that mattered to them. This is their exhibition: toured to eight venues across the UK between 2024 and 2026, and here for you to walk through any time.
Free · Audio guide in every room · Explore at your own pace
The question
“If you come together with your community to be creative, are you in a better position to rally against inequality, solve the issue of the bins not being collected often enough, or push your local council to address the lack of services in your area?”
The answer: yes – with some caveats.
The research found that making culture together really can unlock wider civic action – and it uncovered the barriers and inequalities that can stop people taking part in the first place.
01
A springboard for civic action
After making a Fun Palace, Makers felt more confident to challenge local policy decisions, join community boards and take the lead on new projects. One volunteer who started out at a Fun Palace went on to chair a local charity.
02
Busy hands open up conversations
Bringing an object, or making something while you talk, broke down barriers. As one Maker put it, when your hands are busy you can talk about things that aren’t so easy face to face.
03
Handing over space changes things
Levelling the space from the start – everyone an artist, everyone a scientist – stays with people. Makers carry that ethos into their wider community work and activism.
04
The barriers are real
Racism, poverty and class inequality, gendered inequalities and ableism all shape who gets to take part. So do confidence, capacity, time, money – and whether people feel a space is for them.
The research
Led by Dr Katy Pilcher
Dr Katy Pilcher is a sociologist at Aston University. In 2023 the Centre for Cultural Value awarded Fun Palaces and Katy a grant from the Collaborate Fund to explore whether cultural participation might unlock wider civic activism – and what gets in the way.
Katy interviewed Fun Palace Makers and ran two group storytelling workshops, co-created with Makers. She invited everyone to bring an object that represented their Fun Palace or their community activism – something they made, a photograph, something that captured the atmosphere of the day. Talking through those objects opened up conversations about joy, belonging, racism, class, gender and disability.
Two citizen researchers, Kerris Casey-St.Pierre and Julia Hines, worked alongside the team.
“
The research has highlighted the importance for participants of what it means to ‘hand over’ your space – of levelling space from the outset, and how people carry this ethos into their wider community activities and activism.
Dr Katy Pilcher, Aston University
The tour
Walk through the exhibition
Five rooms, each with its own audio guide. Press play, take your time, and step inside each room for all the stories, objects and recordings.
A note on the audio: the original recordings couldn’t be used, to protect participants’ anonymity, so the words are read by other voices. Those voices may be from a different background to the original speaker, which could shift meaning in some places. It felt important to offer audio versions so the exhibition is accessible to as many people as possible.
01
Room one
Introduction
Where it all began: the research question, how Katy worked with Makers, and why objects became the key to unlocking people’s stories.
Our answer is yes! But with some caveats!
Audio guide
02
Room two
Activist Voices… and Little Pockets of Resistance
Who is seen as a ‘typical’ activist? Some Makers spoke about their activist journeys; others didn’t call themselves activists at all. This room explores the small moments of resistance people described – and how Fun Palaces became “catalytic events” for getting more involved.
…if you want things to change, you just have to make them change, don’t you?
Fun Palace Maker
Audio guide
03
Room three
Objects of Activity or Activism
The heart of the exhibition. Makers brought objects that captured their Fun Palace or their community activism – slime, a cardboard box palace, a cookbook, a typewriter poem – and told the stories behind them.
If your hands are busy and maybe your eyes need to be focused on something, you can talk about things that aren’t so easy when you’re directly looking at someone.
Fun Palace Maker
Audio guide
From the collection
3D House
Chery Nguyen, Creative Creator
Nom Nom Cookbook
Macrobert Arts Centre – Daniel Livingston, artist
Nón Lá (Vietnamese conical hats)
Chery Nguyen, Creative Creator
The Archer’s Arrows Activities Book
Grange Big Local, illustrated by JC Adams
Typewriting Poetry
Sonny Barker
Matchboxes
Chery Nguyen, Creative Creator
04
Room four
Barriers & Inequalities
What stops people from getting involved in creative activities with their community – and from finding their activist voice? Makers named the barriers, from creativity being seen as “frivolous” to wondering whether a space is really for them.
…permission to be visible in our community.
Fun Palace Maker
Audio guide
Words and phrases from the research
Racism Cost of living crisis Ableism Class inequality Travel and timings “Closed off” spaces Busy and noisy spaces Trusting young people Who has the right to occupy the space? Capacity and taking on too much Lack of consistency Needing to claim ownership Who does the work of activism? Health setbacks Sensory barriers
05
Room five
Doing Creative Acts of Activism Collectively
The lived and felt experience of making a Fun Palace: the focus, the shared buzz, and the discovery that you have skills worth sharing.
Quite often…people don’t actually realise the skills that they possess themselves…until they start thinking about sharing things.
Fun Palace Maker
Audio guide
Take it home
Keep exploring
The Activist Toolkit
Ideas and activities drawn from the research to help you find – and use – your creative and activist voice in your own community.
Listen to the podcast
Hear more about Creative Voices, Activist Voices – the research, the Makers and what it all means.
Share your thoughts
Visited the exhibition, in person or online? The team would love to hear what you thought.
On tour
Eight venues, three nations, two years
August – September 2024
The Albany, Deptford, London
The exhibition opened in CaffA on 21 August 2024 with food from the Nom Nom cookbook, bubble-making and a banner-making workshop.
9 November 2024
The Moseley Hive, Birmingham
30 May – 1 June 2025
Swell, Portrush, Northern Ireland
Placard making, little pockets of resistance, creative repair and storytelling.
16 June – 12 August 2025
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling
16 September – 5 October 2025
The Bureau Centre for the Arts, Blackburn
17 – 31 October 2025
artsdepot, North Finchley, London
15 January – 9 February 2026
Greener and Cleaner, The Glades, Bromley
With a hands-on flax workshop, Growing Textiles, led by artist Shane Waltener.
12 February – 15 March 2026
Arbeit Studios, Trowbridge Gardens, London
The tour ended with a finale party on 4 March 2026: food from Thingy Café, creative activities and BSL-interpreted talks from Dr Katy Pilcher, Rachel Attfield and Amie Taylor.
Visitor comment card
“My community is already very creative and it was amazing to see something similar being celebrated. I would like to think about making something creative which intersects with social justice.”
Visitor comment card
“It’s brilliant!”
With thanks
Credits
And thank you to every Fun Palace Maker who shared their stories, objects and time with the research.
- Dr Katy Pilcher (Aston University)
- Amie Taylor (Fun Palaces Director)
- Kirsty Lothian (former Fun Palaces Co-Director)
- Ayesha Chouglay (Fun Palaces Exhibition Producer)
- Rachel Attfield (Fun Palaces Producer and Exhibition Consultant)
- Alex Marshall (Fun Palaces Communications and Marketing Manager)
- Kerris Casey-St.Pierre (Citizen Researcher)
- Julia Hines (Citizen Researcher)
This research project was funded by the Collaborate Fund (AHRC, Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation), through the Centre for Cultural Value at the University of Leeds – a national research centre building a shared understanding of the difference that arts, culture, heritage and screen make to people’s lives and to society.
Want to know more?
Curious about the research, interested in hosting the exhibition, or keen to explore working together? The Fun Palaces team would love to hear from you.