Happy Museum Director, Hilary Jennings looks at developments in the programme in the context of a changing sector and a changing world. Since 2011 Happy Museum (HM) has stimulated and supported museum practice that places wellbeing within an environmental and future-facing frame, rethinking the role that museums can play in supporting the wellbeing of people, […]
Read More →Tony Butler, one of the founders of the Happy Museum project, makes the case for an international affiliate scheme There’s been international interest in the Happy Museum project since it was first launched in the UK over seven years ago. Since then, as I and others involved have travelled in Europe and beyond, we’ve inevitably […]
Read More →Since 2011 Happy Museum has supported the development of museum people and practice, placing wellbeing within an environmental and future-facing frame, and rethinking the role that museums can play in creating more resilient people, places and planet. Our work has been guided by a recognition that the wellbeing of people, place and planet are interconnected, […]
Read More →Ruth Quinn explores the links between Happy Museum thinking and her research work at the Victorian model village at Saltaire World Heritage Site. The Mental Health Museum (MHM) in Wakefield stands on ground that was once part of the allotments at the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, built two hundred years ago in 1818. Today […]
Read More →Brendan Carr of Reading Museum describes how their Happy Museum work raised the museum’s profile and helped it get involved in shaping the city’s future. Our first Happy Museum Project commission helped to raise the profile of Reading Museum, which led to the museum becoming involved in the Reading 2050 visioning project as a trusted […]
Read More →Charlotte Smith moved from the museums and galleries sector to Chester Zoo. Here she reflects on Happy Museum thinking and the different models of community engagement the zoo uses in its conservation campaigns. My Happy Museum experience at Imperial War Museum North (read about it here) played a role in awakening my inner activist. I […]
Read More →NEF’s Five Ways to Wellbeing and Happy Museum thinking inspired a series of events on well-being and design at the Design Museum, writes producer Bernard Hay. One of the many changes inspired by the Design’s Museum’s move to its new home in the former Commonwealth Institute Building has been the goal to integrate a new […]
Read More →Research shows most of us care deeply about one another and the world around us, valuing things like equality, community and friendship. However, the large majority of us underestimate the extent to which our fellow citizens care about these things – and it seems that this misperception is holding us back both individually and collectively. Cultural organisations […]
Read More →Since 2012 Happy Museum has worked to re-imagine the purpose of museums as stewards of people, place and planet, supporting wellbeing and building resilience in the face of global challenges. The project is informed by six key principles which underpin the work of growing community of practice. To date this activity has been predominantly in […]
Read More →Happy Museum is pleased to be working with new Affiliate, Culture24 and Battersea Arts Centre on a new action research project looking at the social value of digital technologies for museums. As part of Culture 24’s successful digital change programme, Let’s Get Real, this project will explore how publicly funded cultural spaces such as museums […]
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