This is one of the Happy Museum Principles – for relevant tools and resources see links below.

Why? To create happy, resilient teams and communities

How? Co-create, share ownership and work from the basis of mutual benefit (give and gain) with volunteers, audiences participants and staff

Work towards building more mutual relationships with your staff, communities, supporters and visitors. Explore how museum staff and public can work together, with different expertise but equal respect, to achieve common outcomes such as making a sustainable locality in which to live and work. Learn from voluntary organisations and social enterprises to try out new models of working with people. Consider new ways of working such as Human-centered design, or structures such as mutual or co-operative status.

What?   Work across hierarchies and boundaries. Be a host, brokering new relationships and becoming a hub for communities.

Museum Case Studies

Here are some case studies where this principle was tested out in practice.

• Thematic Case Study – Empowering staff, building external relationships
  This case study is about how encouraging a culture of ‘active citizenship’ – in staff, ...
• Case Study – Museum of East Anglian Life, building social capital and promoting wellbeing.
  This case study looks at how the Museum of East Anglian life reimagined itself as ...
• Case Study – Reading Museum, engaging with vulnerable communities.
  This case study is about how Reading Museum used a community history project to pilot ...
• Case Study – The Lightbox, Woking, community engagement and co-creation.
  This case study is about how members of the community with mental health issues curated ...
• Case Study – Godalming Museum, co-creating a new gallery with local people.
  This case study from Godalming Museum is about how deciding on a community engagement approach ...
• Case Study – Derby Museums, participation, making and well-being
  This case study is about how Derby Museums put community participation and co-production at the ...
• Case Study – Beaney House, prescribing happiness
  This case study is about how The Paper Apothecary, a participative temporary exhibition/activity was co-created ...
• Case Study – Abergavenny Museum, real practice, real impact.
  This case study is about how Abergavenny Museum used Happy Museum funding to test a new ...

Themed Case Studies

Here is a themed case study focusing on this principle.

• Thematic Case Study – Empowering staff, building external relationships
  This case study is about how encouraging a culture of ‘active citizenship’ – in staff, ...

Tools

Here are some tools you might like to use.