Dreamland is a closed amusement park in Margate, where Revolutionary Arts is based. The park has a battered history and under the stewardship of a local charity it is set to reopen in spring 2015 as a heritage amusement park.
To mark the symbolic moment when the charity received the keys to the site, the Dreamland Trust invited Revolutionary Arts to create an event. Working with local volunteers, Revolutionary Arts built a temporary event arena using upcycled materials found on the site to Dan Thompson’s designs, and set up simple activities to capture the people’s history of the park. The afternoon aimed to celebrate the space as the people’s park, reflecting the story and showing the derelict park honestly. A fictional historical branding was designed and applied to the park and the event.
The event was attended by nearly 2500 people, reported well in the local press and was filmed for BBC’s The One Show. A subsequent event brought over 50 volunteers, recruited at the open afternoon, back to the site to start clearing up ahead of restoration work.
Revolutionary Arts 