What if we thought as seriously about how museums make people feel as we do about what they learn?

Join us in London for an inspiring, creative and highly practical study day exploring how museums can become places that actively support happiness, connection and wellbeing. Led by Becky Jefcoate FRSA, former museum Chief Executive and Affiliated Researcher at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, the day draws on more than 25 years of museum and cultural leadership, Becky’s pioneering Happy Place research and extensive international fieldwork exploring innovative approaches to museum wellbeing.

Discover what museums around the world are doing to create joy, calm, connection, belonging and moments of wonder – and explore what you can borrow for your own organisation. From mindfulness and slow looking to sensory experiences, playful interpretation, creativity, social connection and spaces for rest and reflection, we’ll investigate how collections, exhibitions, programmes, spaces and everyday interactions can all influence how people feel.

There is no single recipe for wellbeing. What feels restorative or joyful to one person may be very different for another. We’ll explore how museums can listen to their communities and create the conditions for different kinds of wellbeing – while also asking what happens when care becomes part of everyday museum practice: how we welcome people, design experiences, create emotional safety, support our teams and give ourselves permission to make space for joy.

Through surprising international case studies, hands-on experiments, creative challenges and practical tools, you’ll put the ideas to work on your own museum. Come prepared to participate, play, reflect and rethink some assumptions about what museums are for.

You’ll leave with a wealth of ideas you can steal, practical approaches for different budgets and organisations, and a toolkit for understanding how your museum makes people feel – and what you could change.

The Feel-Good Museum: Wellbeing, Happiness and Care
Study Day, 8 June, Central London
Led by Becky Jefcoate

Book Tickets

Click ‘Select options’ below to book your place on the study day. Tickets are available on a sliding scale from £137 – £177. Book with colleagues for multiple delegate discounts. Book your ticket online below or email info@museum-id.com if you prefer to be invoiced.

Want to join us for several study days? You can save with our 2027 Study Day Ticket Bundle.

20% of tickets are available at a reduced rate for museum workers who may often be excluded from training and professional development opportunities, including people of colour, LGBTQ+ members of staff, students, freelancers, and those working at small independent museums. Reduced rate tickets are £97 – email info@museum-id.com to check availability and to book a ticket at the reduced rate.

Tickets are non-refundable but may be swapped between colleagues at the same organisation and between different study days (if places are available). If the workshop is postponed, your ticket remains valid for the rescheduled date.