'Fun Palaces' to spark creativity across Yorkshire

Fun Palaces will take place in a variety of different places across the heart of local neighbourhoods in the region. There will be Halloween craft sessions in Aston and Lego crafts in Brinsworth; crochet and knitting in Kiveton; guitar sessions in Rawmarsh and crime writing workshops in Swinton. With dozens more events uploaded daily, the annual weekend of diverse and unusual events, devised and created entirely by the public, will be a showcase of cultural expression and a celebration of the joy of creating.

A Rotherham Fun Palaces Maker in 2023 said: “It was really good, I really enjoyed teaching people new skills that they can carry on at home and throughout life, everyone was very friendly”.

Fun Palaces Director, Amie Taylor, says: “Over the last ten years, more than 45,000 people have organised around 2,600 fantastic events across the UK attended by over 850,000 people. It's that exciting time of year, where Fun Palaces pop up on the map all over to the UK. I was one of those people, having made Fun Palaces myself in previous years. It's a moment for people to come together, and shout about the brilliance of their community and local area, creating free access to cultural participation, where people can connect, discover new and interesting creative opportunities and enjoy doing it all together - it's a moment to say 'culture belongs to all of us'. Each ‘Fun Palace’ is community led event that showcases the brilliance of those living in each local area and we’ve found that people are keen to share their skills, whether that's junk modelling, dancing, sharing recipes or languages, DIY, singing or something else, all in the name of building community."

Many Fun Palace venues work in partnership and collaborate with neighbouring organisations such as the Rotherham Society of Artists, Men in Sheds, Heart of Knitting, Wild at Heart, Rain Rescue, each offering a chance for local people to benefit from the facilities and expertise at these larger scale organisations.