GLAM Cares

Bright yellow banner has the logo for the organisation GLAM Cares on the left, the name of the organisation over a pale grey heart with sparkles around it. On the right the text reads 'a care and support network for GLAM community engagement professionals'

GLAM Cares is holding its third conference in Birmingham on Thurs 18th June.
Callout for proposals now open - share good practice in caring for your staff, volunteers or freelancers in the cultural sector, see forms.gle/aAAv3o593Qv9...
And if you want to hear good practice - save the date!

Trauma Informed Practice for Museums, Libraries, Archives and Galleries Join GLAMCares for an introduction to Trauma Informed work, and how to put this in practice in your organisation

Interested in Trauma Informed Practice? GLAM Cares is delighted to work with Louise Thompson from Mindful Museums again for an introduction to trauma-informed work.

Mon 22nd Sept, 10-1. Tickets cost £30, and places are limited. Book at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trauma-inf...

Training - Kids in Museums We provide a range of training events and consultancy for the museum sector in the UK and internationally - our new summer programme is available to book now.

What needs to be in place to keep yourself and you colleagues safe when working with young adults in the area of mental health? We're on with our friends @kidsinmuseums.bsky.social on 8 July, 10-12:30. It's going to be a fab session - come along and find out!

kidsinmuseums.org.uk/what-we-do/t...

Training - Kids in Museums We provide a range of training events and consultancy for the museum sector in the UK and internationally - our new summer programme is available to book now.

What needs to be in place to keep yourself and you colleagues safe when working with young adults in the area of mental health? We're on with our friends @kidsinmuseums.bsky.social on 8 July, 10-12:30. It's going to be a fab session - come along and find out!

kidsinmuseums.org.uk/what-we-do/t...

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

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

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

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

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

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

A guide to using the Theoretical Domains Framework of behaviour change to investigate implementation problems - Implementation Science Background Implementing new practices requires changes in the behaviour of relevant actors, and this is facilitated by understanding of the determinants of current and desired behaviours. The Theoreti...

@glamcares.bsky.social #GLAMCares learning new things - implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10..... Theoretical Domain Framework.

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...

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

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

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

Lovely to see some @museumsassociation.org resources highlighted around participatory practice and wellbeing. Including one penned by myself. #GLAMCares2024 @glamcares.bsky.social

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