Our Ambassadors are local people working with a variety of partner organisations across the UK. Like the Fun Palaces core team, they are all part-time, this means that their own interests and passions both feed and are supported by their work with Fun Palaces.
The connections between individual Ambassadors, their local communities and the partner organisations (each with a different focus) extends the work Ambassadors can do locally and regionally.
In our quarterly Action Research days we learn from each other and from local Fun Palaces Makers, widening our impact and deepening our understanding of the work we are doing together. This is the core of Fun Palaces – radical social change through tiny revolutions of connection – a cup of tea, a chat, new friendships grown in sharing skills or co-creating a local event.
Phase 2 runs from September 2019 to the end of 2024. With the support of The National Lottery Community Fund we are now extending this programme to Northern Ireland with partners Big Telly Theatre, to Inverness/Highlands and Islands with Eden Court Inverness and to Wales with National Trust Wales, and from autumn 2021 to Rotherham with Rotherham Council, Gateshead with Sage Gateshead and Devon with Libraries UnLimited.
Phase 1 covered five areas around the UK from October 2016 – December 2019, Bristol, Cornwall, Scotland, Sheffield and Stoke. With support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Wellcome, Fun Palaces and our partner organisations combined local cultural activism with quarterly Action Research events for Ambassadors, Fun Palaces Makers and partner organisation staff. What we discovered was that the friendships that grew through the Action Research meetings were core to the work itself.
Here are some local and regional stories from Fun Palaces Makers who worked with our Ambassadors in 2018.
Contact the Ambassadors
Cornwall
Ellie Allen at Creative Kernow
Ellie is the Programme Manager for FEAST part of the Creative Kernow group. Creative Kernow is home to programmes, that champion creativity as a force for positive change in Cornwall. Throughout her career, Ellie has worked in various industries in roles ranging from finance to marketing.
Having lived in Cornwall most of her life, Ellie is active in the Cornish cultural scene. In 2023 she was recognised for this contribution to Cornish dance when invited to become a bard by the Cornish Gorsedhh. Ellie enjoys lots of cultural activities ranging from karaoke to make-up to cooking. So, her primary aim is to ensure that Fun Palaces in Cornwall demonstrate the rich tapestry of culture within the Duchy.
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Devon
Sadie Green at Libraries Unlimited
Sadie has lived in Bideford, North Devon since 2005. She is passionate about community engagement, sense of place and what makes your community special and unique. Sadie is a Creative Producer with 20 years’ experience designing and managing many and varied projects in England and in North Carolina, USA. She has worked with Museums; cultural organisations and venues; businesses; the voluntary sector; community groups and organisations; schools; local authorities and local people.
Sadie is a networker, always looking to join up the dots so activities can happen, and people and organisations can work in partnership together. She loves to to talk, preferably over a cup of tea and a piece of cake! Increasingly Sadie works in a way that asks you what your needs are, what you want to do and gives you the opportunity to shape and take ownership of your project, event or activity. This is called Co-Production. As Fun Palaces Ambassador Sadie is excited about opportunities to work with the Libraries and people in Devon and Torbay, so they can lead on what they want to do and share with others. Hopefully in a fun and enjoyable way!
Rotherham
Rhiannon Lister-Coburn at Rotherham Council
Rhiannon is a dance and theatre graduate and has worked in Community arts development since 2002, as well as a working in education. She has worked with Hospitals, Mental Health Centres, Social Services, Scope, Sense, Youth Centres, Older people’s Homes, Children’s Centres and voluntary groups. In the past, she has specialised in arts and health projects, and passionately believes that taking part in creativity, can have huge beneficial impacts on social, emotional and mental health. Whilst previously working with communities in Rotherham, Rhiannon developed many evaluation tools and authored an evaluation toolkit, available on many websites. In her Ambassador role in Rotherham, Rhiannon helps bring communities, venues and people together to form new and exciting connections.
Scotland
Lewis is one of the Scotland Ambassadors currently hosted by Scottish Libraries Information Council. He comes from a neuroscience, traditional arts and public engagement background, and runs the Science Ceilidh social enterprise supporting a Scotland that is creative, curious, equitable and well. Fun Palaces, and cultural democracy, is a key part of that work, helping build (wee) revolutions for, with and by diverse communities.
Fun Palaces Scotland page here, @funpalacesscot on Twitter and on Facebook
Bristol
Esther Afikiruweh at Trinity Bristol
Esther implements the artistic combined arts programme at Trinity, programming dance, theatre and other art forms and co producing work with local and national artists reflecting the diverse audiences 0.5 miles local to Trinity. Within this role she is a Bristol’s Fun Palaces ambassador, connecting community engagement and co-creation with Trinity’s wider artistic and community programme.
Wales
Bethan Page at National Trust Wales
Bethan has many years’ experience of working in the visual arts in Wales – her great passion is for working with others to create opportunities for meaningful and valuable participation. Recent freelance roles include collaborating with children and young people, artists and teachers on Arts Council of Wales’ Creative Learning Through the Arts projects which provide opportunities for all of these partners to learn and to grow in confidence through creativity.
