Museums make us healthier and happier and increase our wellbeing. They make us proud of where we live, and they inspire, motivate and challenge us.

At a time when we are facing increasing polarisation and challenging issues such as the climate crisis and growing inequality, museums can play a role in delivering social justice, bringing us and our communities together, actively breaking down barriers and fostering conversation and reflection.

Museums across the UK are doing this by working with community partners, listening to and acting on their priorities, and setting common goals to achieve more inclusive and equitable spaces. These partnerships mean that museums of all sizes are using their spaces and collections to make a positive difference to people’s lives by working collaboratively with community groups, health charities and other third-sector organisations.

However, we also need to recognise that museums and their collections can sometimes be excluding and painful places. Embedding the MA’s decolonisation principles, being actively anti-discrimination, and working with marginalised communities to understand and overcome barriers to access and engagement can help open our museums to all.

We're supporting museums to develop their role as socially-purposeful organisations through guidance, awards, professional development and funding. Social justice work can help museums become more sustainable and generates community benefits that make a strong case for the importance of public investment in our museums.

Whether it’s supporting climate justice through taking a sustainable approach to design, build and procurement at National Museums Scotland, bringing communities together through Hastings Museum’s co-produced Refugee Buddy Project, or exploring historical links with slavery at Paxton House, museums and their communities across the UK are helping to create a positive and lasting difference.

Image: Children playing at a Families of the World activity at Manchester Art Gallery. The project won Best Museums Change Lives Project at our Museums Change Lives Awards 2024