Fatt Projects and Cambridge Junction present Palaver Festival, celebrating the radical potential of LGBTQ+ inclusive performance work specifically created for children aged 3-8 and family audiences. Palaver Festival offers a joyful, messy and delightfully unruly programme of high-quality entertainment providing essential representation, space and dialogue.
Over the course of one day in October half-term, Cambridge Junction gets a dazzling Palaver makeover, transforming this flagship venue with discos, workshops, dress-up sessions, fabulous storytelling, music, and party spaces. Featuring five newly commissioned performance extracts from an exciting array of LGBTQ+ artists, as well as a programme of creative workshops, dancing, storytelling, and theatre from across the country, Palaver Festival is a space for all families to come together, learn, laugh, and celebrate themselves.
The festival will culminate in a Palaver Kids Party hosted by break-out star of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and the X Factor, Ginny Lemon. Ginny joins a stellar line-up including Glaswegian artist and renowned mischief maker Katy Baird, drag diva Yshee Black (pronounced Why-She), legendary host of Birmingham’s largest lip sync competition, the Chruch of Yshee, theatre maker, writer and punk-rock angel Emma Frankland – a real life parent, the multi-talented Harry Clayton-Wright former summer season entertainer at Butlins turned international cabaret supremo. Last and definitely not least, Palaver is delighted to welcome performance artist, big hearted big brother and autism advocate Vijay Patel.
Palaver is the brainchild of Adam Carver (they/them), artistic director of Fatt Projects. Adam says: ‘Palaver is on old polari word meaning conversation, it also has connotations of chaos and mess and a camp “ooh, what a palaver!” kind of charm. That feels very fitting for what we’re trying to do with Palaver Festival – start conversations and embrace the joyous messy chaos of childhood and queerness. In a time when incidents of LGBTQ+ hate crime are rising these conversations are more essential than ever”
Palaver Festival marks the culmination of the Palaver programme, taking place at Cambridge Junction throughout September & October 2021. This includes three Palaver parties in the run up to the festival (Sept 12, Oct 3rd & 17th) and a symposium for arts professionals exploring best practice for developing inclusive family programming.
