Tending to Endings – exploring how we close, dispose and end well in museums

Are you, or your museum, struggling with something you need to bring to a close, give up or pass on? What is getting in the way, what support might enable you to move forward? Join us to explore endings in our museum settings as part of life’s natural cycles – offering imaginative and grounded ways into difficult questions.

Playful Approaches for Museum Teams – celebrating our imagination and freeing up our thinking.

Many museums offer playful opportunities for children – but how creative, experimental and playful are we in our work  – as adult professionals and within our museum teams?  How might playful approaches open up new ideas and creativity in our work, within our organisations, and with our communities? What could be unleashed by tapping into our individual and collective imagination.

Museum Storytelling for Transformative Change

How could innovative approaches help us (and our audiences) imagine new possibilities and open up capacity and agency for change? We approached storytelling through the lens of system change – devised and led Peter Lefort who runs the Green Futures Network at the University of Exeter. Since the session a Positive Tipping Points Toolkit has been launched to support transformational change in a way that is accessible, rewarding and collaborative. 

Stormy Socials – speaking with courage and clarity

Work for a museum and use social media? Concerned about the information disorder sweeping the social media eco-system? An open conversation with the Museum of Homelessness exploring ethical use of social media for museums.

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 Sally Shaw Director of FirstSite, Colchester and Dr Bettina Wittneben, University of Oxford.

The role of museums and culture in a time of self-reflection

With Tom Crompton and Ruth Taylor, Common Cause Foundation

How can Museums Tell a New Story of Place?

With Isabel Carlisle – Bioregional Learning Centre and Clare Cooper from the Cateran Ecomuseum and the Bioregioning Tayside Initiative.

Museum as Host

How can museums open up difficult conversations, work with contested narratives and connect with community around the climate emergency? With Ruth Ben-Tovim, socially and ecologically engaged artist, facilitator and activist and Sarah Woods, playwright, activist and performer.

CLICK HERE for more information about our No Going Back Programme from which many of these conversations emerged.