A Celebration of Confidence, Creativity & Community
Over two June weekends, the parks of York were transformed into joyful, buzzing spaces of creativity, energy, and empowerment as the Make Space for Girls Festival 2025 brought together hundreds of girls and young women for an unforgettable celebration of movement, expression and connection.
From Rowntree Park to Homestead Park, older girls a took part in over 40 free activities and workshops, from the bold to the beautiful, the high-energy to the hands-on – all designed to reclaim public spaces for girls and make them feel truly welcome.
A festival for every girl
The range of activities was as diverse and inspiring as the girls themselves. Drop-in and pre-booked sessions included:
Musical theatre, drama and dance.
Football, basketball, cheerleading, tennis, orienteering and yoga
Art, printing, pottery, nature crafts, jewellery making, photography and needle felting
Whittling, wood carving, woodland crafts and nature walks
Tote bag design, badge making, placard painting Empowering flags and zine-making exploring girls’ rights and futures
With additional activities like tap dancing and a ceilidh, the festival offered something for everyone – including special sessions that welcomed women too, helping build intergenerational community and solidarity in shared spaces.
More than just activities
This year’s festival wasn’t just about fun – though there was plenty of that! It was also about sparking conversations and sharing experiences. Girls were invited to imagine and design what welcoming, inclusive public spaces might look like with the help of design collective Meeting Place. Through crafts and co-creation, they explored what they want from their parks, communities and futures.
Alongside this, vital conversations were facilitated by pop-up awareness stalls, including- Bolshee and The Dance Floor Project, tackling the need for safer public spaces for women, and also St John’s University’s ‘All About Respect’ campaign, encouraging open dialogue around healthy relationships and preventing violence against women. These elements embedded the festival in a wider mission to build a culture of respect, inclusion and safety for girls in our public spaces.
“We want to create a space where girls can feel safe, confident, and empowered to be themselves,” said Abigail Gaines, founder of Make Space York and director of The Tiny Roar CIC. “Every girl deserves access to public spaces and the opportunities they offer.”
A real sense of belonging
What made the festival truly special was the feedback from girls, parents and carers, who described how powerful the experience had been:
“Lovely idea! My daughter really enjoyed her workshops and the sense of community. Thank you!”
“This is a wonderful event in our area to give an opportunity to girls to explore the park and spend time with their friends in a safe place.”
“My daughter is 12 and she has speech and learning disabilities. This is the second year she was able to take part in the festival. As a parent, it’s so wonderful to see that everyone is welcome and she felt at ease that she was able to take part in most of the activities. All professionals considered her additional needs and made her feel very included. A massive thank you!”
These stories echo a common theme: confidence, ownership, joy and community. Girls left the festival having discovered new passions, formed new friendships and most importantly, seen themselves as rightful users of their parks and public spaces.
The project behind the festival
The festival is part of the wider Make Space for Girls in York Parks project, led locally by Abigail Gaines and supported by the Friends of Rowntree Park, The Mount School, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and the York Children’s Trust.
Although the project is organised entirely by Abigail Gaines, the festival wouldn’t have been possible without the support of volunteers who helped across the weekends and the many talented facilitators and practitioners who ran workshops and sessions. Their enthusiasm and commitment to creating inclusive, inspiring experiences played a huge part in the festival’s success.
Since 2022, the project has worked with teenage girls to co-create spaces designed by them and for them – including a brand-new space in Rowntree Park that opened in May 2025. It’s about more than a weekend: it’s an ongoing mission to reimagine our public spaces through girls’ eyes – and to shift the culture so girls feel welcome, respected and inspired every time they step outside.
What’s next?
You can follow the project on Instagram @makespaceyork to see photos from the festival and hear directly from the girls involved.
Stay tuned for more events and opportunities – and thank you to every single person who joined in June.
Whether you joined in with the dancing, picked up a whittling knife for the first time, waved a flag, shared your story, or simply stood back and made space – you helped create something truly powerful. Together, we’re not just changing parks.
We’re making space for girls – and for a better, fairer future.
