No Going Back is one of the 13 Season for Change commissions taking place nationwide in 2021 and it’s organised by the Happy Museum.

People working in and with museums are invited to apply to join a peer learning programme that seeks to build on the particular power of museums to draw on past stories of rapid transition and transformation; and to inspire museums and their communities to shape new stories and actions to address the climate and ecological emergency.

No Going Back will support up to 15 small groups of museum practitioners who wish to work with their spaces, stories, colleagues and connections to rethink museums for thriving people, places and planet. From February to June 2021, participants will take part in a 6-day programme including online workshops and support from the Happy Museum core team and mentors from the Happy Museum’s Community of Practice.

Alongside the peer learning programme, there is a series of No Going Back conversations that started in April 2020, in which a range of external contributors from psychologists to bioregionalists, activists to civic managers have offered provocations and invited participants to think afresh about the role and potential of museums. You can watch a recording of one of these talks as part of Season for Ex-change, which asked: ‘What if museums could become engine-rooms of the imagination?’

The deadline for applications for the peer learning programme Expression of Interests is on midnight on Sunday 10 January 2021.
Find out more about how to apply

Look out for stories of change on social media and follow Happy Museum on Twitter #rapidtransition #nogoingback #thinkagain