‘a sustainable future – whatever form or forms it takes – will be decided by people in relation to their cultural traditions and values.’ UNESCO Sustainability Framework The contexts in which we work are increasingly informed by large-scale challenges from social inequality to human-made climate change. At times of change and uncertainty about how we […]
Read More →“Why aren’t we talking about COP21?” is a phrase I have heard exclaimed a fair few times over the past few weeks. Sometimes it seems as though there are a lot more people talking about Star Wars than a brand new international agreement to combat climate change. However, discussions happening right now, and this blog […]
Read More →Thanks to Rachael Rogers at Abergavenny Museum for prompting potentially one of our most influential developments in the UK museums sector. Rachael asked us if there were any KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that their Happy Museum should be monitoring. The answer was no; there are very many performance measures that different policy makers request, for […]
Read More →The DCMS have recently published a report Culture, Sport and Wellbeing, and analysis of the Taking Part Survey which focuses on the extent to which engagement with culture and sport is associated with happiness. Tony Butler, Chair of the Happy Museum Project and Director of Derby Museums comments – ‘It is interesting and really good […]
Read More →The Happy Museum are embarking on an in-depth 5 year study with a small group of museums, investigating the impact of wellbeing and sustainability on individual, organisational and community resilience. The museums will be brought together in a dynamic programme of action research and supported peer learning. It will be underpinned by a learning evaluation […]
Read More →On a rainy summer afternoon in August 2015 a small group of museum practitioners gathered on a canal boat in Kings Cross for an afternoon session investigating and experimenting with the links between museum collections and our relationship with the material world. We wanted to consider what the benefits and impact might be of activities […]
Read More →‘Our enormously productive economy demands we make consumption a way of life’. This is a quote from 1955 on the wall of a recent exhibition at The Lightbox (supported by Happy Museum commission funding). The exhibition took as its starting point the fact that as a society we are encouraged to continually upgrade, continually renew, […]
Read More →The Happy Museum Project are pleased to announce the publication of our second Learning and Evaluation Report (Sep 14) . One of the principles of Happy Museum is to ‘measure what matters’, and the report was undertaken in that spirit.It is about learning as much as advocacy, and so explores challenges openly. It aims to […]
Read More →In August 2014, Reading Museum received a second commission from the Happy Museum to build on the earlier success of its Revealing Reading’s Hidden Histories project (also, see here). The new project aims to provoke debate and active citizenship, facing up to the town’s social and environmental challenges. Here project leader, Brendan Carr, gives an […]
Read More →Since 2011 Happy Museum (HM) has brought together thinking around well-being and sustainability and investigated the particular role of museums in supporting individual, organisational and societal resilience. It places its work firmly in the context of, and in response to, current global challenges such as climate change and social justice. In this context we believe […]
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