By Julia Hines, a Maker at Grange Big Local Fun Palace So, you have decided to make a Fun Palace, and one of your first questions is likely to be “How do you get people involved?” I…

Can you tell me about the group that you run? 🎨 Crafting for All at Swinton LibraryI run a vibrant crafting club at Swinton Library in Rotherham that welcomes all ages and skill levels—from complete beginners…

Earlier this year we added the ‘Tiny Fun Palaces’ option to our map, so you can make a Fun Palace and be counted as part of the nationwide celebration of arts, culture and sciences –…

Each year, Fun Palaces happen in a huge range of venues across the UK, from libraries to museums, to allotments, community centres, cafes and theatres. Some are made by a team of neighbours coming together,…

Laura Clayson and Abi Moore were the Lead Makers (the ones that sign up on the website) for the Cwm Garw Fun Palace in 2024. They were blown away on the day when 312 people…

Organisers of the *Hoxton Creative Health Network share how their many satellite Fun Palaces in East London was the perfect way to bring all the different cultural organisations together in a fun and supportive way.…

Fun Palaces take place in all kinds of cultural venues over the Fun Palaces Weekend in October: theatres, libraries, museums and arts centres (in addition to the ones made in community centres, on boats, in…

Edwina Osborne made the first Leighton Buzzard Fun Palace in 2021. Now in planning for it’s 3rd year, she reflects on her journey so far, and shares advice on how you too could start a…

Rupesh Shah had his idea for a Fun Palace during lockdown. The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was borne from a catastrophic day in which he’d been trying to fix a couple of lamps, and no…

Below you can read a Maker story from Canopy Arts Jab Fun Palace – written by Roger Drury from Canopy Network (‘inspired by Fun Palaces’). “Canopy is a network of arts workers, artists and communities…

Torriano Fun Palace, in North London are huge fans of the work of Joan Littlewood and Cedric Price. Although you don’t need to know a single thing about Joan or Cedric to make a Fun…

Celine Elliot is the Fun Palaces Ambassador for Cornwall, which she does for one day a week as part of her job at the Cornwall Museums Partnership. In 2018 she made a Fun Palace at…

Last year Fun Palaces looked a little different, some were socially distanced, some went ahead online, some took place in the form of window displays and some were a mix of all three. Victoria Beesley…

Ruth Purdy is a visual artist, who set up a community arts company in Cornwall. In 2018 she joined with Astor Court and Devonpart extra care schemes and Nazareth House; part of a retirement village…

“There is no door on our unit and people who come in often might not actively seek out becoming involved in a project like ours … We work with those with dementia and their carers…

“What is necessary to remember is that as a creative community we can help. We have the resources to communicate issues to participants and we have the skills, knowingly or not, to enact change.” Farnham…

The “Fun Palace Maker” hat is really helpful as it’s a conversation starter and there is enormous strength in being part of an ever-growing international movement. Emma Rucastle is a theatre director and creative practitioner…

We have had some fabulous heart-wrenching, scary, wonderful moments being part of Fun Palaces. And a big part of that was letting go and handing over our library space to the community and saying it’s…

After a training session with Fun Palaces in 2017 we decided to start running Fun Palaces in Hertfordshire and the feedback has been really positive. Shirley Everall has worked for Hertfordshire Libraries for 40 years…

We asked a variety of Makers about their Fun Palaces experience Exeter Library in Devon, Northfield Arts Forum in Birmingham, Morden Hall Park National Trust property, Here East in London and Farnham Fun Palace in…