Genevieve Tullberg has been part of the team at Nucleus Arts since 2013, which coincidentally is the year we held our first Medway Fun Palace. Fun Palaces are for everyone, and this workshop might just spark the desire to make one in your community.
Presentation: Fun Palaces
In 1961 Joan Littlewood and Cedric Price designed a Fun Palace building – a ‘laboratory of fun’. They imagined a building linked through technology to other spaces, accessible to those who wouldn’t normally go to arts venues or great centres of learning.
Joan said, “I do really believe in the community. I really do believe in the genius in every person. And I’ve heard that greatness comes out of them, that great thing which is in people.”
“Choose what you want to do – or watch someone else doing it. Learn how to handle tools, paint, babies, machinery, or just listen to your favourite tune. Dance, talk or be lifted up to where you can see how other people make things work. Sit out over space with a drink and tune in to what’s happening elsewhere in the city. Try starting a riot or beginning a painting – or just lie back and stare at the sky.”
Unfortunately, that ideal space was never created, although there were a few incarnations of potential Fun Palaces, Joan’s Stratford Fair in 1975 among them. In 2013 we re-imagined Fun Palaces as a space that any of us could create, wherever we live – championing more equitable uses of the under-used buildings and spaces we already have and genuinely community-led.
This first imagining was simply as a celebration of Joan’s centenary – what we didn’t know in 2013 was how many people would be excited by this idea and how many communities would take it on and make it their own, helping us grow it into a campaign for cultural democracy and the annual Weekend of Celebration it has become – local people sharing skills, creating tiny revolutions of connection.
This presentation:
‘Fun Palaces and why YOU want to make one’
As long-time makers of Fun Palaces, Nucleus Arts have been charged with sharing ideas and helping you find out how to make a Fun Palace in your community.
These workshops are a space for people to connect with others interested in community, creativity, culture and fun. No experience needed… just bring yourself! You just need to want to make something happen with and for the people who live around you.
You might leave with:
- A clearer idea of what your Fun Palace could be
- Practical answers to the “how do I actually do this?” questions
- Free resources, activities, Makers’ Toolkits and ongoing support from the Fun Palace team.
