Who are Fun Palaces?
Fun Palaces campaigns year-round for everyone to have a say in what counts as culture, where it happens, who makes it, and who experiences it. They place community at the heart of culture, and culture at the heart of every community.
They support volunteers, grassroots communities, new and established organisations, and practitioners across the UK (and beyond) to make Fun Palaces – free, local events that use arts and science as a catalyst to celebrate each unique community, and the skills and interest of those who live there.
Their mission is to strengthen communities by empowering individuals, supporting partnerships, and challenging the way arts and science are currently owned and created. You can find out more about Fun Palaces here.
Our Fun Palaces Ambassador
The National Lottery Community Fund supports 11 Fun Palaces Ambassadors to work with partner organisations across the UK. They help people to co-create their own cultural and community events, and to share their learning with other UK partner organisations.
Bethan Page is Fun Palaces Ambassador for National Trust Cymru and she has been working with local communities in North Wales for three years to empower and support individuals and groups, and with partners to recognise the value of cultural participation as an essential part of a healthy society.
Connecting with communities
As an organisation that plays an active role in the Welsh cultural landscape, our ambition is to make everyone feel not only welcome, but an important part of everything we do. To achieve this, we need to actively reach out to our local communities.
Our partnership with Fun Palaces supports our ‘for everyone, for ever’ strategy by providing us with an opportunity to test new and different approaches to working with local communities and partners. It has the exciting potential of making more people feel an increased sense of belonging and connection, whilst helping us to play our part in creating a fair and equal society.
Y Prosiect Hinsawdd (The Climate Project)
One outcome of our Fun Palaces partnership has been Y Prosiect Hinsawdd (The Climate Project), set up by Bethan, Fun Palaces Ambassador, to engage young people with climate-related discussions and activities. It focuses on the small steps that can be taken to lessen climate anxiety and promotes the feeling of having some control over the situation.
Sessions take place once a month and involve being outdoors, visiting our sites, walking, yoga, creative activities, trips, and eating good food. Young people are given the opportunity to learn about our environmental work and to engage with staff and volunteers about the work that they do to care for our landscapes.
It’s a chance to learn and share experiences of engaging with young people, of responding to their interests and concerns, and of developing ways of supporting them to co-create their own activities and events.
