The dictionary definition of evaluation is ‘a judgement about the amount, number or value of something.’ At Happy Museum we value the wellbeing of people place and planet – first and foremost. Which sounds like a no brainer.  But we live in global system where our collective driver of value, our primary measurement of societal […]

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In this session we explored how museums can connect with their communities to respond to the climate emergency with immediacy, reciprocity, creativity and fun – using shared and pop up spaces as places for encounter and connection. We investigated what might be gained by connecting the power of top down civic delivery with the energy […]

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In May 2020 in the middle of lockdown we held a workshop hosted by Culture Declares programme The Offer in partnership with Common Cause Foundation Watch a RECORDING of the session Covid-19 changed our world in ways that we could never have imagined, and in doing so revealed many anomalies that have challenged us. In […]

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Our greatest need today is to see life as whole, to see its many sides in their proper relations; but we must have a practical as well as a philosophical interest in such an integrated view of life. Patrick Geddes In this session we were invited to explore bioregioning – defined as ‘a land and […]

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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 […]

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It is a simple but powerful truth that most people care deeply for other people and the places where they live. But – tragically in our increasingly polarised society – the majority of us underestimate the extent to which our fellow citizens care about these things. Yet when we hold more authentic perspectives of others’ […]

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‘Our communities are diverse and complicated. They are muddled and made up of individuals who share, disagree, find common cause or show indifference to each other. Some neighbourhoods are diverse, some are monocultural to the point of exclusion The result is an aversion to exploring difference and conflict, and a lack of understanding that communities […]

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Don’t miss our playful places next workshop in Leeds which will be talking about Children’s rights, playful adults and play as protest! If you are interested in gaining creative ideas and support for play at your venue, then come along and join us! We will be sharing our knowledge and experiences and learning from each […]

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On 5th March 2019 a small but energised group of museum professionals gathered at Woodhorn Colliery Museum to consider how environmental concerns might be focus for connections between a museum and its community.  Museums in the Happy Museum community of practice already tackle subjects as diverse as energy use, waste and recycling, food production and […]

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Museums have found many ways to connect with their communities around environmental concerns – tackling subjects as diverse as resource use and waste, energy, local planning,  air pollution and more.  Building these connections has the potential to contribute to the wellbeing and resilience as well as the environmental sustainability of both museums and their communities. This workshop offers the […]

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