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 […]

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This case study is about how encouraging a culture of ‘active citizenship’ – in staff, volunteers and others – and seeking mutually beneficial relationships can lead to change, increased wellbeing and build resilience in individuals and organisations.

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This case study looks at how a partnership between a research institute and a museum led to the development of a software app that allows visitors to ‘tag’ objects and artworks with their own commentary. The app was tested to see if it increased audience engagement.

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Where do you stand?  Simple, workshop approach before, after and regularly through an activity to identify individual outcomes Where do you stand? is a simple tool that can gauge participants’ opinions by asking them to stand a line of masking tape to show whether they agree with a statement on a scale of 1-7. It is used […]

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Happy Tracker Very simple, workshop approach before, after, and regularly through a period to identify individual wellbeing outcomes. Happy Tracker is a very simple and easy tool developed by the Story Museum working with the New Economics Foundation (nef) to assess individual wellbeing. Participants simply use their body to indicate their level of wellbeing at points in […]

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Time capsule Simple, fun, workshop approach; before and after activity to identify personal or social outcomes. Time Capsule is a relaxed but engaging and fun tool that captures changes in opinion or sentiment connected to an issue or place. This tool was developed by Happy Museum commission Reading Museum and adapted for more general use. Time Capsule could […]

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Tipping point Simple, workshop approach to planning and reviewing organisational change. When planning your project, identify what you think will make the biggest difference in the organisation; what could create a ‘tipping point’ in organisational change according to the culture and practices of the organisation (as opposed to with your audiences). This is best achieved through engaging a diagonal […]

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Story of Change The Story of Change is a workshop approach to planning and reviewing the difference your group wants to make and how. Using a Story of Change to plan and review is at the heart of measuring what matters. It’s a logical approach which reverse-plans from the difference we are hoping to make […]

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Share ownership. Ensure mutual benefit is one of the Happy Museum drivers that deliver the How – for relevant tools and resources see links below. Museum Case Studies Some case studies where this driver was tested out in practice. Themed Case Studies Themed case study focusing on this driver. Tools Some tools you might like to […]

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This case study looks at how the Museum of East Anglian life reimagined itself as a social enterprise and used appropriate evaluation tools to demonstrate the value of its work. The museum’s success in building social capital and promoting wellbeing inspired the creation of the Happy Museum Project in 2011. Download (pdf): case_study_MEAL

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