The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA) and GEM (Group for Education in Museums) have launched the Working Together Impact Report. Written by Siân Rosa Hunter Dodsworth, the report outlines practical steps to realising the potential of creative health practice for the museums and heritage sector. Read it here.
was an 18-month programme (2023–2025) supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which helped six museums and heritage organisations embed creative health responses to local health and social needs.
Key findings from the Impact Report include:
· Stronger sector capability: Staff reported increased confidence and skills in co-production and trauma-informed practice, describing the programme as “unbelievably inspiring.”
· Sustainable cross-sector partnerships: Museums, freelance artists, community groups, and health and care providers built deep, trust-based relationships that are set to continue beyond the programme.
· More inclusive and relevant practice: Pilot projects effectively engaged people facing trauma, isolation and long-term health challenges, creating safer, more representative cultural spaces.
· Improved wellbeing for participants and staff: Museums adopted wellbeing-focused policies and practices, supporting both teams and communities.
· Creative health leadership: Early and mid-career professionals gained confidence to influence organisational strategy and share learning sector-wide. Innovative, sensory and trauma-informed uses of collections reinvigorated how heritage objects are used to support wellbeing. As part of its long-term legacy, GEM and CHWA are launching A Culture of Care: Creative Health in Museum Practice, a new sector-wide training course that builds directly on the programme’s findings. The project has also delivered in-depth training for its network of GEM Mentors, equipping them to better support mentees working in creative health and wellbeing.
About Working Together
Working Together project, developed and delivered as a close partnership between GEM and the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA), brings together the innovative work of the creative health and heritage sectors. Led by Programme Lead Louise Campion, it supported six museums and heritage organisations - selected for their commitment to working with underserved communities - to co-design and deliver Creative Health pilot projects tailored to local need. The programme combined professional development, personalised mentoring and a supportive peer network, all designed to help partners move beyond one-off wellbeing projects and strategically embed health and wellbeing across their organisations, guided throughout by the Creative Health Quality Framework.
Outputs include six pilot projects, an extensive sector CPD programme, strategic advocacy work, and the forthcoming short film produced by Molineaux Productions, which visualises the programme’s learning and impact.
The six partner museums and heritage organisations were:
· York Museums Trust
· Royal Museums Greenwich
· Scottish Maritime Museum
· Sunderland Museum & Pleasure Gardens
· Newark and Sherwood District Council (Castle and National Civil War Museum)
· National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.
Watch the film
The short film presenting the findings of the Working Together programme is available here.
You can also find out more on the website, .
Victoria Hume, CHWA Director, said: “We are thrilled with the evidence this evaluation presents of the impacts of Working Together on the people and institutions who have taken part. Realising the sector’s potential, however, requires more than recognition; it demands structural reform across the sector, with health and wellbeing embedded into policy, funding, governance, strategy, and staff support.”
Rachel Tranter, GEM Director, said: “We are delighted to see how Working Together enabled museums to place care, collaboration and community at the heart of their practice. The programme has strengthened skills, deepened partnerships and created more welcoming and supportive spaces for participants to develop learning that supports health and wellbeing. We look forward to building on this momentum through our new Culture of Care training and expanded mentoring support to enable museums to strategically embed health & wellbeing work as part of their learning and engagement programmes.”
For more information about Working Together and the Impact Report, please contact:
Katya Provornaya
GEM Communications & Participation Manager katya@gem.org.uk
About the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance
The Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance is a free-to-join membership organisation for creative health across England. We provide networked, collaborative advocacy, support and resources, supporting health and wellbeing for all through creative and cultural practice. Our vision is for a healthy world powered by our creativity and imagination. Our mission is to work with others to build a common understanding that creativity and culture are integral to health and wellbeing. This approach values equity, prevention and health-creation; is asset-based and holistic; and is communal, collective and co-produced. Visit our website to learn more.
About GEM
GEM is a membership-based sector support organisation for everyone interested in learning through museums, heritage and cultural settings. GEM's mission is to support and empower this community by helping colleagues connect, share practice and develop their skills. We deliver this through professional membership, training and CPD opportunities, one-to-one support, an annual conference and events, dedicated representatives across all four Nations of the UK, research and publications, digital resources, support for sector recruitment; conversations and advocacy about practice and the development of learning.