The Happy Museum launches £60,000 commission fund
Rebecca Atkinson, 05.04.2011
A £60,000 commission fund has been launched for museums to demonstrate how they can promote wellbeing in individuals and communities
The fund is part of the Happy Museum Project, which is led by Tony Butler, director of the Museum of East Anglian Life, and funded through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Breakthrough Fund. The project aims to highlight the potential of museums to play a more significant role in creating a happier and more sustainable society.
Museums have until 6 June to make proposals for funding, with individual grants of between £6,000 and £20,000 per commission. A Happy Museum paper, co-written by the New Economics Foundation and leading museum commentators, outlines eight principles for museums and proposals must address at least four of these.
Commissioned projects will be introduced at a three-day symposium later this year.
Tony Butler said: "Lots of museums have positioned themselves in the heart of community and are doing very important participation work, but we have to accept that now the context is different. Pressures on the planet's finite resources and an awareness that a good, happy society need not set economic growth as it most meaningful measure offer us a chance to re-imagine the purpose of the museums. They have a vital role as connector within a revitalised civil society."
HAPPINESS INDEX
The Office for National Statistics will this month start to ask households to rate their level of wellbeing as part of the first official happiness index, which is due in 2012.
Maurice Davies, head of policy and communication at the Museums Association (MA), who contributed to the Happy Museum paper, said one measure of happiness should be the percentage of people that attend museums and galleries.
“The Happy Museum project is a great opportunity for museums to refine the way they improve people's wellbeing,” Davies added. “It's based on the same principles as the MA’s work on museums and sustainability, which drew the conclusion that one of the most sustainable things museums can do is increase the depth of their relationships with people.
"I urge museums to think about applying for the Happy Museum funding – and to revisit the MA's work on sustainability.”
Links
Click here to view the Happy Museum paper (web pdf)
Click here to visit the Happy Museum website
Click here to view the MA’s sustainability work
Museums have until 6 June to make proposals for funding, with individual grants of between £6,000 and £20,000 per commission. A Happy Museum paper, co-written by the New Economics Foundation and leading museum commentators, outlines eight principles for museums and proposals must address at least four of these.
Commissioned projects will be introduced at a three-day symposium later this year.
Tony Butler said: "Lots of museums have positioned themselves in the heart of community and are doing very important participation work, but we have to accept that now the context is different. Pressures on the planet's finite resources and an awareness that a good, happy society need not set economic growth as it most meaningful measure offer us a chance to re-imagine the purpose of the museums. They have a vital role as connector within a revitalised civil society."
HAPPINESS INDEX
The Office for National Statistics will this month start to ask households to rate their level of wellbeing as part of the first official happiness index, which is due in 2012.
Maurice Davies, head of policy and communication at the Museums Association (MA), who contributed to the Happy Museum paper, said one measure of happiness should be the percentage of people that attend museums and galleries.
“The Happy Museum project is a great opportunity for museums to refine the way they improve people's wellbeing,” Davies added. “It's based on the same principles as the MA’s work on museums and sustainability, which drew the conclusion that one of the most sustainable things museums can do is increase the depth of their relationships with people.
"I urge museums to think about applying for the Happy Museum funding – and to revisit the MA's work on sustainability.”
Links
Click here to view the Happy Museum paper (web pdf)
Click here to visit the Happy Museum website
Click here to view the MA’s sustainability work
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