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 it is not too late (it’s never too late) to sign up for the Fun Palaces weekend this year. This blog post is last minute and a bit scrappy – just like your Fun Palace might be, and that’s more than enough.

Keep it small (tiny in fact):

Fun Palaces do not have to be big, massive or attended by a thousand people. They don’t have to last the whole weekend, or even more than an hour. If it’s just you and a few neighbours on your street, in your park, in a field or on a shared balcony, that’s great. A half hour Fun Palace with four neighbours sharing skills (and perhaps inviting passers by to join if they want) is still an absolutely fabulous Fun Palace. 

Let the idea of perfection go:

It can be scrappy. Last minute. It can be you working out how to do the thing as you’re doing it. You can bring some people together to make a Fun Palace, and figure out what a Fun Palace is as you’re doing it. It doesn’t have to be shiny and perfect, your Fun Palace will still bring people together even if it’s a bit scrappy. And the chances are you’ll all have a brilliant time, make some new friendships (or strengthen old ones) and create some ripples in your street, neighbourhood or town. 

Start with what you already have:

Fun Palaces are about coming together to share skills, hobbies and interests, the things that we love doing. Whether that’s sharing recipes, teaching some words in a language, writing some silly (or serious) poems together, junk modelling or something else. Perhaps you can set the challenge of making a Fun Palace this weekend using only things you already have at home. 

Whatever you share counts:

The Fun Palaces campaign says that culture belongs to us all. Every year tonnes of amazing stuff happens over the Fun Palaces weekend – junk modelling, gardening, nail art, climate talks, science experiments, re-inacting your all time favourite scenes from Eastenders, making chapatis, or pizza or bara brith, singing whatever songs you love whether in a choir or on a karaoke machine, seed swapping, knitting, dog-walking – it’s all culture and it all counts. So make a stand this Fun Palaces weekend and do what you love doing and help us reshape this idea of culture!

We’re here (that’s our small part time team of 5) to offer support and advice, so drop us a line if you think you want to Fun Palace this weekend, and want to chat it through with someone. hello@funpalaces.co.uk

PS. Look at this bunting our comms manager Alex made for you. It’s gorgeous, if you don’t have any for this year, we’ll be sure to get some to you (free) for next year!!