Warwickshire County Council’s Stratford-upon-Avon Library and Information Centre will be transforming into an exciting and creative Fun Palace on Saturday 1 October 2022.
Warwickshire County Council’s Stratford-upon-Avon Library and Information Centre will be transforming into an exciting and creative Fun Palace on Saturday 1 October 2022. The national Fun Palaces campaign, which takes place during the first weekend of October each year, is a community-focused initiative that supports local people to co-create their own cultural and community events in a public venue, and where everyone’s individual brilliance can be recognised and valued.
Stratford Library is also becoming a Fun Palace on 1 October to join several other locations across Stratford-upon-Avon taking part in The Great Big Green Week 2022, alongside partners at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Town Trust, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. All of the Stratford-based venues will be holding exciting community events that involve variations of music, dancing, and making fairy gardens, to Shakespeare readings, family workshops, and craft activities themed around the Forest of Arden.
To involve the local community, Stratford Library are now seeking community volunteers ready to help to run craft stands on the day and help others to learn new creative skills such as knitting, crochet, printmaking, junk modelling, papier-mâché, bulb planting badge making and more. Volunteers can also help people of all ages to make leaves, flowers, and animal shapes to add to Stratford Library’s trees and recreate the Forest of Arden within the library. Volunteering will provide the opportunity for people to meet like-minded creatives and connect with others from the local community, enjoy cups of tea, organise a variety of activities, and start new conversations together.
The Fun Palaces Weekend of Celebration takes place on the first weekend in October each year across the UK and worldwide, and every Fun Palace location is free to attend. The concept was originally created in 1961, when Joan Littlewood and Cedric Price designed a Fun Palace building as 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. This idea has continued through to the present day, and Fun Palaces are now about joining in with your version of culture, whether that be the arts, sciences, craft, technology, digital, heritage, or sports, and helping to bring people together and share and celebrate the genius in everyone.
Cllr Andy Jenns, Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation, said:
“Fun Palaces is a great annual campaign that puts culture and fun at the heart of our local communities. The events and activities that take place in a Fun Palace are led by and for that local community, celebrating our personal passions and interests in the arts, sciences, technology, sports and more, inviting people to learn new skills and connect with each other.
“Stratford Library is a vibrant, inclusive and welcoming space, and I strongly encourage anyone who has a creative interest to get in contact with the library about volunteering for this event, as it will be a great opportunity to meet like-minded people who live locally and share the same passions and interests.”
To enquire about becoming a volunteer at Stratford Library’s Fun Palace on 1 October, please email libraryenquiryteam@warwickshire.gov.uk or phone 0300 555 8171.
To find out more about the national Fun Palaces campaign, visit https://funpalaces.co.uk/
You can join your local library for free at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/jointhelibrary. To keep-up to date with Warwickshire Libraries latest activities, information, and events, you can:
- Visit Warwickshire Libraries
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