The Watershed Does Fun Palaces

Last weekend was Fun Palaces weekend across the country. (Follow that link if you don’t know what that means, because the concept is a bit nebulous.) The Bristol event took place in the Watershed and was science fiction themed. I missed the Saturday event, which was also part of the Afrofuturism season, because I was in Cheltenham, but I went along on Sunday because there were events being run by BristolCon.

I’m not sure how successful the weekend was. Turnout seemed to be quite poor, but I suspect that was largely a result of the events being free, and so many different groups being involved in the organization. The only people in a position to exercise overall direction were the Watershed folks, and they didn’t have much budget due to it being a free event.

Still, Jo, Roz & the crew got their program done, and hopefully they’ll get some good entries for their short story competition. In the final session Jo handed out some writing prompts. Oddly enough, the two I picked fit very closely to the story I’m hoping to write for Accessing the Future. Of course that story is nothing to do with Bristol.

Talking of Bristol, Edson Burton shared with me this fine illustration of Spaceport Bristol done by Ðrojan for the Saturday event.

Spaceport Bristol

In the evening the Afrofuturism season got going again with the short film, Afronauts, followed by George Clinton: Tales of Dr Funkenstein. We all got the funk. Edson and I will be talking Afrofuturism from Noon on Wednesday on the Ujima Women’s Outlook show.