Community projects

Platinum Jubilee Community Celebration, Kensington Palace

HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee was a truly historic event. At Kensington Palace, we collaborated with and commissioned seven community partners to develop and deliver fun, festive and dynamic entertainment at our Platinum Jubilee Community Celebration which took place on Sunday 5 June 2022. Our community partners who delivered activities include:

• Colourful Community: Rangoli Pattern Making
• Industry in the Streets x BMTstories
• The Royal Parks: Help Nature Thrive
• Nova New Opportunities: School of Humanity
• Stitches in Time: Bunting Making
• Step Forward: Drag Queen or King for the Day
• London: Jubilee Garden Scavenger Hunt

We invited our network of nearly 300 Community Access Scheme leaders and their groups to join the celebration, which embraced themes of community, unity, friendship. Whilst aimed at local communities, everyone was welcome to join the fun on the day. We estimate that over 500 people attended the celebration event.

This event was supported by Turning Point's Innovation Fund.

Scarecrow Parade, Hillsborough Castle and Gardens

Our fabulous scarecrow parade returned for its second year in 2022. Throughout October and November the Walled Garden was vividly brought to life with 24 scarecrows on the theme of ‘Kings, Queens and Rulers’. A broad interpretation of the theme saw a wide range of figures recreated in scarecrow form - everyone from Elvis to Queen Victoria, Freddie Mercury to King Kong, Henry VIII to Blu Hydrangea, Hillsborough’s very own international drag queen and star of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
Community partners were welcomed onsite to hands-on creative workshops in our Clore Learning Centre with local artist Shauna McGowan. School workshops were held offsite and were led by artists Kelsey Carroll and Sue Cathcart. Our facilitating artists also created their own scarecrows to add to the throng, along with two scarecrows from our wonderful garden volunteers. The project was a real Hillsborough team effort with over 400 participants in total.

Participant groups included:
RNIB
Live Life Wellbeing Centre
Action Mental Health
The Thursday Club
Killicomaine Jubilee Club
Walk Aghalee
Beechlawn School (Hillsborough)
Carryduff PS
Lisburn Central PS
St Aloysius PS
Abercorn PS
Belfast Royal Academy

We hope the Scarecrow Parade will be back for 2023!

George III: The Man Behind the Myth

George III grew up at Kew Palace and it was where he was treated during periods of mental ill health. Over 200 years since his death, his illness is often treated as a joke, perpetuating societal stigma surrounding mental ill health.

‘George III: The Mind Behind the Myth’ aimed to challenge the way people think, talk, and feel about mental health by reflecting on historic narratives and contemporary personal stories. We collaborated with people with lived experience of mental ill health to produce written interpretation for historic objects and a contemporary display of personal objects and stories.

The exhibition lives on in this series of films. Five lenders were interviewed about their object, the story behind it and their perspectives on mental health. Please be advised that these films contain themes around sexual abuse and suicide.

Victoria: Woman and Crown

To mark the 200^th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth, this exhibition at Kensington Palace explored Victoria’s private life, her role as a wife, mother, and Empress of India. The Communities team used participatory practice to present a nuanced account of Queen Victoria. The team worked collaboratively with members of the local South Asian community to respond creatively to key themes and objects featured within the exhibition. This allowed for diverse voices and perspectives in the exhibition narrative and resulted in content being created and embedded throughout the final exhibition.

A multi-generational group of South Asian women created a series of object labels in the form of ghazals, a form of South Asian poetry.