Museums for Life

Museums for Life is an evidence-based, collaborative approach which embeds inclusive practice and creative health principles into the development, delivery and evaluation of health and wellbeing research and practice in the Museum. The programme ran from October 2024- March 2026. 

The approach has been informed by an evaluative project Reimagining, which explored how creative programmes can help to create a healthier, more inclusive museum environment in collaboration with a creative practitioner and older adults affected by chronic / progressive conditions; and Take a Walk in My Shoes, a research project which considered experiences of being in the Museum and how these could inform and / or support health and wellbeing in the Museum, with (older) adults affected by non-visible disabilities. Reimagining evolved from Look, Imagine, Move, a social prescribing initiative which ran at the Fitzwilliam Museum (2021-2023) and sat within the University of Cambridge Museum’s Age Well framework. 

Museums for Life aims to foster inclusive wellbeing practices, explore the role of museum-based creative initiatives in improving health and wellbeing outcomes, and to establish sustainable practice that integrate creative health principles into museum programmes, ensuring equitable access and long-term benefits. The approach is underpinned and informed by: 

• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System’s priority to “create an environment to give people the opportunity to be as health as they can be” 

• Cambridge Public Health’s research priority of ‘life-course and ageing’ 

• Creative Health Quality Principles which support creative health programmes to be person-centred, equitable, safe, creative, collaborative, realistic, reflective, and sustainable 

Two 8-week Museums for Life creative programmes for older adults were delivered March – April 2025 and May – July 2025 with 15 adults aged 60-91. A third and final programme ran between February- March 2026 with a full cohort of 8 adults. 

The programmes draw inspiration from the Museum’s collection and empower participants to creatively connect with the artefacts in ways which resonate with and enrich their lives, supporting positive health and wellbeing.  

Through the collaborative development, delivery and evaluation of these programmes, we hope to consider questions such as: 

• How can museums create environments that actively support health and wellbeing for diverse communities, including ageing populations? 

• What changes or benefits do creative health programmes have on physical, emotional, and social wellbeing within museum spaces? 

• In what ways can the Museum collaborate with local organisations to maximise the effectiveness of Museums for Life programmes? 

This project was funded by The Marlay Group 

• Principal Investigator: Emily Bradfield
• Project start date: 1 October 2024
• Project end date: 31 March 2026