No Going Back Conversations – Happy Museum Project

Society has changed dramatically. Lockdown and Black Lives Matter protests have blown open any sense of ‘normal’. Now, as museums, galleries and heritage organisations struggle with planning for reopening, the Happy Museum Project invites you to think about how you and your organisation might play its part in making lasting changes. As you emerge from lockdown, what will you do, and what will you stand for, to contribute positively to society and the environment?

Museums, galleries and heritage sites are much more than visitor attractions. For decades people working in and with the sector have been unhappy that their main measures of success, and often their main sources of income, have been how many people come through the doors. Pre-Covid ‘normal’ was wrecking the planet and stressing-out organisations and their staff. Much of society’s Pre-Covid ‘normal’ papered over profound issues of inequality and social justice.

How might you enact changes which increase the benefit you bring to people, to communities, to the local area and to the planet?

Join these Happy Museum conversations to rethink what your organisations could be, what they could do and how much better they – and you – could be.

Past sessions – read a report and watch the recordings

How can Museums Tell a New Story of Place? with Isabel Carlisle, BioRegional Learning Centre; Clare Cooper, Cateran Ecomuseum and Alice Briggs, Ceredigion Museum
The role of museums and culture in a time of self-reflection with Tom Crompton and Ruth Taylor, Common Cause Foundation
What if Museums could become engine rooms of the imagination? with Rob Hopkins, activist and writer; Hannah Fox, Derby Museums and Lucy Neal, Theatre maker and activist
Creative Civic Connections for Climate Emergency with Debbie Bourne, Transition Kentish Town, Farhana Yamin, Environmental Lawyer and Climate Activist and Sue Sheehan, Transition Camden, Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum UK and Anna Bunney, Manchester Museum
From Footfall to Footprint– how we might re-think cultural value with Liz Zeidler, Thriving Places, Tony Butler, Derby Museums, Peter Lefort, Carbon Neutral Cornwall and Mandy Barnett, Culture Cubed.
Good Work: How might we re-think our work and our working relationships for good? How do we find our purpose – and how do we pursue our purpose in a changed world? with Thanh Sinden, Jo Hunter, 64 Milliion Artists and Hannah Lee-Chalk, Manchester Museum.
Breaking the Mould – fresh ideas for the climate emergency How might we work with greater imagination and creativity, agility and impact to address the multiple emergencies we’re facing? with With Sally Shaw Director of FirstSite, Colchester, Dr Bettina Wittneben, University of Oxford and Happy Museum Associate Gaby Porter.
Museum as Host How can museums open up difficult conversations, work with contested narratives and connect with community around the climate emergency? How might we use our spaces, collections and connections to support reflection, debate and discussion and explore individual and collective responses? Featuring Ruth Ben-Tovim, socially and ecologically engaged artist, facilitator and activist.and Sarah Woods, playwright, activist and performer.

Future sessions

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Commissioned by Season for Change, a UK-wide cultural programme inspiring urgent and inclusive action on climate change, led by Artsadmin and Julie’s Bicycle, and supported by Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.