Red pamphlet style book with window cut and text 'Keep Building Bridges'

fold out poster in a zine saying Industry without Art is Brutality in letterpress

Great @glamcares.bsky.social conference #GLAMCares2025 #Leeds #CityMuseum Brilliant discussions, presentations & workshops. amazing examples of community engagement effecting policy #sophiebeckett #JaneFindlay - I enjoyed rounding the day off with #zines #care & talking about reportmaking & zines

Photo shows a long piece of paper with a drawing of the UK and the text 'whete are you from?'. In different colour pen, people have labelled the cities they travelled from to attend the conference. Cities from the Midlands to the east of Scotland are labelled

A big thank you to everyone who attended #GlamCares2025 from across the UK! A great day exploring care for practitioners in all models of engagement work and lots to take away!

A photo of a screen explaining 'what is a zine', with images of some zines and the words small, self published, pamphlet style small books, hand made'

Our final workshop explored how making zines can help you explore and present ideas, construct futures and think creatively. As a tool for participant and practitioner wellbeing, zines give space for reflection and community building

#GlamCares2025

Setting us up for a workshop to try out some wellbeing activities, Tom Hughes from Dumfries and Galloway sets the scene for simple and low cost activities museums can offer, including warm spaces and wellbeing walks

#GlamCares2025

Setting us up for a workshop to try out some wellbeing activities, Tom Hughes from Dumfries and Galloway sets the scene for simple and low cost activities museums can offer, including warm spaces and wellbeing walks

#GlamCares2025

A slide is shown about the Maternal Journal project, supporting birthing parents with mild or moderate mental health needs, using creative activities and prompts to boost wellbeing

The Art House share their programme for perinatal mental health care using creativity., building on a need recognised by midwives.

the-arthouse.org.uk/maternal-jou...

#GlamCares2025

Our final session explores Creative Health, a practice we've heard a lot about. Creative activities can support a huge range of participants as well as practitioners, and work at all scales.

First, a presentation on creativity for birthing parents, then hands-on activities!

#GlamCares2025

'real life is messy and unpredictable, and community engagement should reflect this'.

Plan and allow for adaptation from the start to better care for staff, participants, and increase impact

#GlamCares2025

-speak to funders to ask for flexibility when things change
-understand the pressures and ambitions of partner organisations and work together to define success
-explore different ways to capture impact
-realistic targets, value meaning over mass participation

#GlamCares2025

A large screen shows a yellow slide asking 'have you ever led a project that didn't turn out how you'd expected? Have you ever experienced outcomes you couldn't have foreseen?'

Pallant House has a long-running art engagement programme, and explore how to plan for the unexpected - exciting or challenging, from unrealistic targets to unknown participants to magic moments.

Change your definition of a successful project!

pallant.org.uk/learn-with-u...

#GlamCares2025

A large screen shows the questions, what is the cost to you, what is within your control, what do you need to let go of, what impact would this have on you?

Questions from Bryony to ask yourself about some of the things that may be taking up your energyb- think about what is in or outside your control, and putting your energy into the things that you can control.

#GlamCares2025

Lovely to hear from Bryony talk through the availablity of autonomy and agency within your space. #GLAMCares2025 @glamcares.bsky.social

A group of people are shown standing up from the back. At the front a large screen shows a slide with a picture of a tree and the phrase 'root deep, stand strong, branch out'

GLAM cares board member Bryony Rowntree now leads a workshop on centring and empowering yourself, exploring spheres of control and giving tools to take away.

#GlamCares2025

Qu - how do you get buy-in for creative research?
- creativity opens up different conversations
- it allows for flexibility and responsiveness
- 'messy' research can demonstrate real impact

#GlamCares2025

Qu for the panel - ways of working with people with specific lived experience?
- work with partner orgs who have their best interests in mind and expertise
- treat people as individuals
- take time to build trust
- work 'with'/'by' people, not 'about' them

#GlamCares2025

Community Participation | York Museums Trust

Great to hear about the work of York Museum Trust to develop a new framework for community engagement. www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/community-en... #GLAMCares2025 @glamcares.bsky.social

York Museums Trust created a framework for participation, defining what it means to them, what a 'conmunity' is, and why this matters to the organisation. They brought teams together to create the framework and embed it as a way of working.

#GlamCares2025

Participatory action research - Nature Reviews Methods Primers Participatory action research (PAR) involves the participation and leadership of people experiencing issues, who take action to produce emancipatory social change, through conducting systematic resear...

@glamcares.bsky.social #GLAMCares2025
Exploring Participatory Action Research. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Food and Drink Oral History Project | Birmingham Museums Reinterpreting our oral history collections through a public health lens In an innovative partnership, Birmingham Museums Trust and Birmingham City Council

Birmingham Museums Trust is in a unique partnership with the council's Public Health department, looking at how heritage can change health behaviour, and using participatory research and balancing museum methods and Health data needs.

www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-w...

#GlamCares2025

A large screen displays the GLAM cares logo and session title, community engagement and participation

Dulwich Picture Gallery used Participatory Action Research to genuinely listen to what communities needed from the gallery. A year of working in local venues and sharing power built trust and is changing the way the gallery works in the future as well their offer.

#GlamCares2025

And back from lunch we are at Session 2 - @alexandrawoodall.bsky.social is leading this session around Community Engagement and Participation. @glamcares.bsky.social #GLAMCares2025

Our afternoon sessions start with a presentation, panel and workshop on community engagement. Advocating for staff wellbeing in this work, and empowering yourself while planning for the unexpected!

#GlamCares2025

Advocating for the value of community work can be a challenge, and recognising that the relationship is as/more important as a physical output

#GLAMCares2025

Feedback from attendees includes the need to formalise processes of care and get senior leadership buy-in. Front of House staff mustn't be forgotten, as they mediate content for visitors and should be trained and supported.

#GLAMCares2025

Photo shows a room of people looking at a screen. The screen is green with three discussion questions as listed in the text above

And questions for everyone in the room - or for us all to think about - in the workshop:
- what have you learned from your practice?
- what support would benefit you?
- how can you request this from your organisation?

#GLAMCares2025

Photo shows a room full of people looking at a screen with a presentation saying 'advocating for staff support!

Photo shows a research paper on a desk. The publication is called 'conversations on participatory heritage praxis'

Our final morning session with staff from the University of York shares findings from research on participatory practice in heritage. The research highlights challenges to staff in running projects - practical and emotional challenges

#GlamCares2025

Photo shows a presentation on screen exploring exhibition co creation l, with topics including prison nursing and children's nursing

Photo of a screen highlighting the benefits of exhibition co-creation

Co-creating exhibitions also gives nursing staff new skills, connections, and a voice to share their experiences

#GLAMCares2025

Creating in person spaces that are warm, welcoming and relaxing was key to supporting wellbeing and balancing in person spaces with opportunities for digital access@glamcares.bsky.social #GLAMCares2025.

Photo shows people looking at a presentation on a screen. The presentation shows before and after pictures of a wellbeing area for nurses

Now Royal College of Nursing is highlighting how creativity and culture can support wellbeing of nurses/midwives, who suffer with high levels of stress and poor mental health

#GlamCares2025

Tips include:
-professional supervision for staff
-building in downtime - don't go from a difficult session straight to a meeting
-add staff wellbeing to risk assessments

#GlamCares2025