For last week’s lunchtime talk team members from across Watershed chaired a discussion about the upcoming Fun Palaces programme that will take over Watershed on 4 – 5 October this year.

Fun Palaces are a held around the world on the same day, when the audience has the opportunity to take over a cultural organisation and make it something wholly new to play with.

In 1961 Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price conceived the Fun Palace as a ‘laboratory of fun’, ‘a university of the streets’. It was to be a temporary and moveable home to the arts and sciences that would welcome children and adults alike, based on Joan Littlewood’s motto of “Everyone an artist, everyone a scientist.”

Hannah from Watershed’s engagement team, Maddy from our programming team and Studio Assistant Jasmine introduced the ideas that Watershed has so far.

Every year Watershed runs a talent development scheme called Future Producers, inviting 18-25 year olds to gain industry experience and training by programming a series of activity for Watershed. This year they will be leading the charge on Fun Palaces and we look forward to seeing what direction they take us in. Hannah showed a short film demonstrating the incredible BFI Gothic Shining Night that last year’s Future Producers created to give a bit of context for what is possible.  The call for this year’s cohort is currently open so if you are, or you know someone brilliant who is 18-25 and interested in the creative sector, do direct them here watershed.co.uk/future-producers

Maddy from programming talked to us a bit about the Watershed’s upcoming BFI Sci-Fi series that will provide the theme for our Fun Palace, amidst a wider programme of brilliant Sci-Fi films, music and activities in the Autumn. 

Jasmine told us that the most important thing about Fun Palaces is that it is co-programmed with the public, so at that point we threw it open to discussion with the lunchtime talk audience to think about what we might want the Watershed Fun Palace to be.

There were an incredible amount of brilliant ideas, provocations and suggestions and I couldn’t hope to capture them all here, so here is just a flavour of what was discussed:

• A party live streamed across some or all of the Fun Palaces in the UK to join us all together

• A DIY architecture day to make new palaces or dens within the building, creating temporary walls and secret places within Watershed to work and play in

• Busting out of the building altogether and exploring Bristol’s lesser known spaces such as Redcliffe Caves.

• Optical illusions on the floors and walls

• Permission to do the things you weren’t allowed to do as a child e.g. draw on the walls, unlock doors not ordinarily open to the public

• Inspiring people to transform their own homes, workplaces, schools into Fun Palaces when they leave

• A ‘time tunnel’ in the covered walkway outside Watershed, taking you further back/forward in time as you walk through

We had a good chat about how strong the science theme needs to be and wondered if perhaps we might partner with someone like at-Bristol to combine their science centre mentality with our experience as a cultural venue and make something really exciting.

We also talked about what the strapline for this might be to work out what and who it would be for.  The Shape of things to come and Create the Future were early frontrunners.

If this has sparked some ideas for you or if you’d like to be involved, we will be holding an open meeting here at Watershed on Wed 6 Aug, info here and if you are in the building, you can add your suggestions to Jasmine’s (frankly extraordinary) Fun Palaces suggestion box. It sparkles when you suggest things! If we can just get the whole building to do that in October I think we could consider this a success!