Our first round of awards to UK museums and galleries were announced in 2011 as part of this  groundbreaking programme to see how museums can create new civic spaces to help society transition to a high well-being, more sustainable world.  Six initial projects were funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

In 2012 a further round of awards were announced and six awards were made through funding received from the Arts Council.

In July 2013 we announced a third round of awards as part of a wider programme funded by Arts Council England’s Renaissance Strategic support fund and CyMAL, Wales. 10 museums and galleries from England and Wales were selected to show how museums can support the transition to a high well-being, sustainable society.

In 2014 three further awards were made to museums within the existing Happy Museum Community of Practice bringing the total of Happy Museum Commissions to 25 projects in 22 museums.