Flourish – Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency by Sarah Ichioka and Michael Pawlyn “This exploration of the way we live now and ways we might live is challenging and inspiring.” Hilary Jennings This review appeared in the Sepember/October 2022 issue of the Museums Journal
Read More →On 3rd April 2019 Happy Museum will join the first wave of cultural organisations declaring climate emergency. As the accelerating impacts of climate change become increasingly evident it is vital that we face the truth, demand action, support each other and express solidarity with affected communities. Our declaration follows: We Happy Museum declare a Climate and Ecological […]
Read More →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 […]
Read More →Breathing Canterbury Happy Museum Affiliate the Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury has commissioned a project and exhibition, Breathing Canterbury, exploring the effects of air pollution on Canterbury and beyond. The Beaney commissioned an artist/facilitator, Trudi Field, to work with local partners to create exhibits to raise awareness of this important issue. Workshop participants […]
Read More →Since 2011 Happy Museum has supported the development of museum people and practice, placing wellbeing within an environmental and future-facing frame, and rethinking the role that museums can play in creating more resilient people, places and planet. Our work has been guided by a recognition that the wellbeing of people, place and planet are interconnected, […]
Read More →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 […]
Read More →This case study looks at how deliberately seeking to engage emotions can help to promote wellbeing in audiences and staff, and also build resilience in organisations.
Read More →This case study is about how museum and galleries used Happy Museum thinking to have a new perspective on the resources available to them. This was not just about taking measures to reduce the impact of activities on the environment, but about thinking creatively about the full range of resources available – materials, money, energy, […]
Read More →#OneLess campaign is setting out to rid London of single-use plastic water bottles by 2021 – is this an opportunity for museums nationally to make a similar pledge? “Every piece of plastic ever made still exists.” This is the sentence that resonated the most with my colleagues from the V&A when we attended the launch […]
Read More →Hosted at the London Transport Museum in 2016, Happy and Green drew connections between Sustainability and Wellbeing in supporting individual, institutional and societal resilience – and considered the particular role that culture can play. A day rich in provocation and discussion bringing together thinkers from the fields of policy and practice; public sector and private sector; […]
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