Category: Big Thinks

Our team and guest writers explore the ideas behind the movement: from cultural democracy and community power to wellbeing, activism and why what happens on your doorstep matters.

Fun Palaces Maker Network

In November 2025, we launched the Fun Palaces Maker Network: a space for the people who make Fun Palaces to have more say in the campaign’s future. Here’s what happened at our first meeting in…

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The Politics of Play in Everyday Life

This post was written for the Imagine! Belfast festival of Ideas and Politics exploring how everyday creativity in community spaces becomes political practice, building participation habits that shape our shared future. When we talk about…

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Everyday Culture, Measured

Read all about a decade of Fun Palaces in the new Impact Report. Over ten years, Fun Palaces has evolved from a bold idea to a quietly radical national (and international) network.

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Communities – How Culture Connects Us!

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

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Five Ways to Wellbeing

It’s Fun Palaces weekend!!! I’m writing this on a train to Rotherham, where I’ll be visiting Riverside Library Fun Palace. Then onto Blackburn, Preston and Lancaster to visit Fun Palaces and their Makers. This weekend,…

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Bringing Communities Together

This weekend thousands of people will come together in their communities across the UK to make Fun Palaces, and it’s not too late for you to either. The Fun Palaces Weekend is a great excuse to…

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Tiny is mighty… It’s not too late to make a Fun Palace!

The Fun Palaces Weekend of Celebration is almost here and yes, you can absolutely still join in. Whether it’s a handful of neighbours round a kitchen table or a quick online skill-share through Whatsapp, tiny…

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Picture of a map with red pins on it indicating Fun Palaces. At the top are two buttons reading Make a Fun Palace and Find a Fun Palace. There's a red arrow pointing from text reading 3-5 October 2025 go the button reading 'make a fun palace'. At the bottom is the Fun Palaces logo in a red triangle.

One month to go – Join in on Fun Palaces Weekend

What are you doing on Friday the 3rd October? Or Saturday 4th or Sunday 5th?   A month from now, we will be welcoming in the 12th annual weekend of Fun Palaces action. A free, nationwide…

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Photo of people gathering in a large room, wither sitting on sofas or standing. There's a person at the microphone. In the room is a chandelier, fairy lights, and love and care are written on the walls.

Convention on the Fate of Britain

Some Fun Palaces Makers, along with some of Fun Palaces Support Hub Team will attend the Fate of Britain Convention in London, which follows a successful first Fête of Britain gathering in Manchester in 2024.…

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Picture of Tamasin making an umbrella with arts materials in the foreground

Hosting a Climate-Friendly Fun Palace in Your Community

At its heart, a Fun Palace is a celebration of creativity, community, and culture, made by the people, for the people. This grassroots movement empowers everyone to share their skills, passions, and local knowledge in…

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What happens after the Weekend?

On that very first Fun Palaces weekend in 2014, no one quite knew what was going to come out of it; the invitation was to make a Fun Palace to celebrate Joan Littlewood’s centenary –…

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Picture of Gemma and some visitors making protest banners at The Arcadia in Portrush

Swell and the Creative People of Portrush

Creative Voices, Activist Voices exhibition on tour! 30 May – 1 June 2025 Fun Palaces producer Rachel travelled with Dr Katy Pilcher, a sociologist from Aston University and the Creative Voices, Activist Voices partner, on…

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Funding Your Fun Palace

Fun Palaces don’t have to be big and shiny, perfect, polished or expensive. They’re not fêtes or festivals, they are tiny revolutions of connection between people (sometimes on a large scale), while sharing an activity.…

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Fun Palaces Workshops 2025

I remember, some 12 years ago now (back in my days as a Fun Palace Maker), the original Fun Palaces staff team heading out on the road to deliver Fun Palaces workshops up and down…

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Someone wearing a hijab and pink jumper concentrates on a chess game in a library.

From Celebration to Revolution: When Fun Becomes a Force for Social Change

Ria Patel joined Fun Palaces as the co-ordinator in January this year. They are passionate about diversity, meaningful inclusion and fostering belonging. As Fun Palace Makers know, there is much more to Fun Palaces than…

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Fun Palaces Creative Riot Protest

What Our Communities Are Crying Out For: Voices from the Creative Riots

Across the UK, communities are speaking loudly – but is anyone listening? The recent local elections sent a clear message: people are voting for change (or not voting at all) because they feel unheard and…

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Two women are seated in a cozy, warmly lit room having a friendly conversation. One woman with long red hair, wearing a red and white patterned sweater and a name tag that reads "Amie," is smiling and engaged in the conversation. The other woman, wearing glasses, a gray sweater, and a name tag that reads "Hawys," is holding a notebook and pen. Behind them is a window, colorful bunting, a wicker basket, and a lamp, contributing to the relaxed and inviting atmosphere.

Tiny Fun Palaces – Join in from your living room 

Fun Palaces Director Amie Taylor writes about how Fun Palace events are getting more accessible. I’m writing this between two launch events, where we’re sharing all of the new things happening at Fun Palaces. It’s…

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It’s never too late to Fun Palace

I’m sitting in the Fun Palaces office amidst bunting, boxes, posters and general chaos, which can only mean one thing – the Fun Palaces weekend is almost upon us. This is your annual reminder that…

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Process as much as product

Ahead of the Fun Palaces Weekend in October 2024, the team behind Make and Chat Mondays Fun Palace invited our Director Amie Taylor to join their planning meeting at the Telegraph Hill Centre, Southeast London. It’s…

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A woman demonstrates a test tube of seeds to another woman across an exhibition table.

Creative Voices, Activist Voices

In 2023, the Centre for Cultural Value awarded Fun Palaces a grant from the Collaborate Fund to explore the radical potential that cultural participation might unlock wider civic activism. We want to know if finding…

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