Fun Palaces goes tiny

Stella Duffy, co-director of the annual creative event Fun Palaces, talks about how you can use the musical activities you’ve been doing during lockdown to join in

This year, Fun Palaces will be different - sometimes smaller, always safer, but just as remarkable. We’re going ahead with our annual weekend of action on the first weekend of 3-4 October, and this year we are aiming for 1,000 TINY Fun Palaces.

Since 2014, Fun Palaces have supported over half a million local people across the UK to connect in their communities, using all forms of arts and creativity to link with neighbours in skills-sharing activities that help us get to know each other better and understand our own locality a little more.

Things have been different throughout 2020, and many of us have seen our local communities spring into action with Mutual Aid and WhatsApp groups, support for those vulnerable and shielding, help and connections made where it is most needed.

We want to celebrate the great things you’ve all been doing, remember those we have lost and those who are unwell or recovering, and pay attention to the tiny things that make a huge difference.

Fun Palaces has always been about the person to person connections that are the heart of community. This year, finding ways of making local connections, and including those who have been isolated or vulnerable is more important than ever. Making these connections through Fun Palaces is still possible if we keep it tiny.

So instead of one big Fun Palace in a central location, this is the year to have 3 or 5 or 20, on street corners, in windows, gardens, at bus stops, or online. Let’s show the world how important community connections are to us all: a short singing workshop in the front garden, a socially-distanced drumming lesson in the park, shielders performing from their windows or balconies – all ideas welcome.

To help you work out what to do in your street, block, village, carpark, front garden or balcony, we have created a number of brand new resources: • A Shielders’ Guide to making a Fun Palace so xxxxthat those who are shielding, and want to, can xxxxcreate their own Fun Palace. • A Digital Ideas page with ideas and activities for xxx an online Fun Palace. • A Covid-19 Safety Guide to make sure we’re all xxxxtaking care of each other. • Posters and invitations to download and loads xxxxof other ideas to get involved. We expect most Fun Palaces will last a few hours at most and have not more than 10-20 socially distanced people at a time. So, if you’ve always wanted to try making a Fun Palace but it sounded too daunting, now is definitely the time to get involved.

And that thing you’ve been dreaming of trying one day, but it sounds a bit crazy and needs to be just 15 mins long in case it all falls apart? We’d love that idea! Visit https://funpalaces.co.uk/1000-tiny for more info and to sign up, or for help with setting up a Tiny Fun Palace, email hello@funpalaces.co.uk or call 0208 692 4446 ext. 203

Photo: Athens Fun Palace, 2019

“And that thing you’ve been dreaming of trying one day, but it sounds a bit crazy and needs to be just 15 mins long in case it all falls apart? We’d love that idea!”