Maker Stories

Makers tell us about making their local Fun Palaces

Maker Stories from 2017

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…

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Dipping our toes into Fun Palaces

Gillingham Library ran a trial Fun Palace in June 2017 that was themed around liquids. Pam, a member of the library team, writes about their experience starting from scratch, community members they got involved and…

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Finding the Fun Palace in Farnham

Carine Osmont and Alexandre Mendonca both work in medical repatriation in Farnham, Surrey. They have made two Fun Palaces having never made anything like this before. They’ve since learned astronomy, sewing, origami, 3D drawing, ceramic…

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There’s magic in the making at Muriwai Fun Palace

I gained a new appreciation for my community and the people in it, and saw first hand how the arts and sciences, along with the process of learning, exploring and trying out new things, can…

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Making a Fun Palace as a family

Something that is surprising – but also liberating – is that no-one tells you what you should do. We came up with the ideas and although Shelley gave us some guidance about what might work…

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Building a Fun Palace in Tameside

Gary Howard is the CEO of Complete Forensics C.I.C. and has been delivering inspiration to the next generation of scientists since 2013. He has been a finalist for Freelancer of the Year 2016 and is…

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Everyone an Artist, Everyone a Scientist

Dr Elizabeth Glennon is a scientist at King’s College London researching Alzheimer’s disease (her full title is Alzheimer’s Research UK fellow, but that doesn’t really tell people what she does!). Lizzie spends most days in…

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Making a green Fun Palace in the Swale

Sioux Peto and Colin Barnard run Polka Dot Arts – a small arts space in Teynham where their main focus is the environment and recycling. They like their projects to connect people to the places…

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Grassroots activism in Lancaster

Emma Rucastle is a freelance theatre maker based in Lancaster. She helped to make Lancaster Fun Palace in 2014 and 2015. At her Fun Palace, she has made a geometric mosaic panel, tapped her feet…

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Colonising underused space in Pontypridd

Terry Chinn grew up in Neath and now lives in Pontypridd where his community group made Fun Palaces in 2014 and 2015. Terry has worked as designer, teacher and visual artist all over the UK.…

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