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Fun Palaces in Auchinleck
11/09/2023
Fun Palaces in Auchinleck
This edition of the Fun Palaces podcast looks at the work of Fun Palaces veterans, the Auchinleck Community Development Initiative (ACDI), Scotland. Ruari Gordon, Fun Palaces Ambassador at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, and former resident of Auchinleck, visited the group earlier this year to find out how the organisation’s work with the community in this former mining village in East Ayrshire has affected the lives of the people who live there, and how they have engaged with Fun Palaces to bring everyday creativity to the fore. Hailing from Auchinleck, Ruari was particularly interested to see how ACDI had managed to support the community of Auchinleck in the face of the significant economic and social pressures felt in so many post-industrial areas over the last few decades. ACDI team members Stuart Mitchell, Rachel Alexander and Leon Brownlie offered their insights into the role of culture in places like Auchinleck, and expanded on how they bring the ethos of Fun Palaces into their everyday operations. We also hear from a number of Auchinleck residents, who tell us in their own words just what Auchinleck is known for. About Fun Palaces Fun Palaces is an onging campaign for culural democracy and a weekend of action and celebration, taking place on the first weekend of October every year - during which communities come together to make pop-up Fun Palaces. Cultural democracy is an approach to arts and culture that engages everyone in deciding what counts as culture, where it happens, who makes it and who experineces it. Stella Duffy and Sarah-Jane Rawlings co-founded Fun Palaces in 2013 to celebrate reveloutionary theatre director, Joan Littlewood's centenary on the 6th October 2014. As more communities, individuals and organisations across the UK asked if they could join in, it quickly became clear that it was never going to be a one-off. In 2021 Kirsty Lothian and Makala Cheung took over as co-directors of the organisation. Inspired by Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price's never-built 1960s vision of one building for all arts and science, free to the local community of the East End, the 21st century Fun Palaces is about reclaiming public space, encouraging cultural venues to throw open their doors, shining a light on unsung community activism and supporting local people to step up to co-create their own community events. Learning from the communities that take part every year, Fun Palaces has changed and grown, and is now as varied as the people who take part. Find out more at: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram:
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