Greenock Central Library to become Fun Palace on Sat 5 Oct

Thursday 3 October 2019

Greenock Central Library is being turned in to a Fun Palace on Saturday 5 October from 10am until 12noon with water colour art, creating comics, crafts and beading, creative writing and book groups on offer.

Fun Palaces is an ongoing campaign for cultural democracy, with an annual weekend of action every October. The event is also part of Inverclyde Council’s Making Waves project which aims to transform local libraries into centres for culture and creativity.

The Fun Palaces weekend of action uses a combination of arts, craft, science, technology, digital, heritage and sports activities as a catalyst for transforming communities. The events are led by local people for local people, sharing their own passions and skills.

Fun Palaces HQ Co-Director, Stella Duffy, said, “We believe in the genius in everyone, that there is an artist in everyone and in everyone a scientist. We believe that creativity in the community can change the world for the better. We believe we can do this together, locally, with radical fun – and that anyone, anywhere, can make a Fun Palace.”

Councillor Jim Clocherty, Convener of Inverclyde Council’s Education & Communities Committee, said, “Fun Palaces are about shining a light on everyone’s existing creative skills and making the most of local strengths and assets. The ultimate aim is to change the way people think about culture so that everything that everyone creates is valued equally.”

In the early 1960s, Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price conceived the original, Fun Palace as a ‘laboratory of fun’ and ‘a university of the streets’. It was to be a local building, home to the arts and sciences, open and welcoming to all. It wasn’t possible to creatr it in 1961 and the Fun Palace building they envisioned never came to fruition.

However, the concept of a welcoming space open to all, led by and for local people persisted. It has now been developed into the weekend of action and the ongoing campaign now known as Fun Palaces. The campaign supports communities across the world to create their own community-led and locally based events which share the skills and passions of the people of that community.

Page last updated: 4 October 2019