Becky Jefcoate, Practitioner Research Associate at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, U.K.)

Becky Jefcoate FRSA is a strategic museum leader, consultant, and Practitioner Research Associate at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, where she directs innovative Action Research in Collections and Wellbeing. Her international research across the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand investigates how museums drive community, cultural, environmental, and staff wellbeing. Becky has shaped creative programs, strategic masterplans, audience development and interpretation for major national institutions in the UK including the Museum of London, English Heritage, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Opera House, and the Bloomsbury Theatre. As Director of the Cartoon Museum and Founding CEO of Wells Maltings, she delivered transformative capital projects and award-winning visitor experiences.

Happy Place: Building Trust and Belonging Through Wellbeing at the Fitzwilliam Museum

What if a museum could build trust not only through knowledge, but through care? Happy Place is an immersive wellbeing experiment co-created with young adults at the Fitzwilliam Museum. In a time of stress, speed, and social disconnection, the project asked: can a museum become a refuge—a place to spark joy, calm, and connection through sensory design, play, and co-creation?

Prompted by rising mental health concerns among 16–25-year-olds, Happy Place sought to rebuild young people’s trust in cultural spaces by inviting them to co-create one. Across nine months of listening, dialogue, and design, we worked with 49 young adults as Creative Producers, exploring what wellbeing truly means for their generation—and how a museum might respond with empathy and authenticity. Together, we transformed a gallery into an overgrown “garden of the imagination,” complete with soothing soundscapes, scent, hammocks, origami, and cardboard trees—an experiment in slowing down and belonging.

Visitors described the space as joyful, peaceful, and emotionally safe. Every participant reported that it lifted their mood and deepened their sense of connection—to themselves, others, and the museum. Happy Place demonstrated how cultural institutions can act as bridges between generations and communities—where creativity, care, and co-creation help to rebuild trust and nurture resilience.

This session offers honest reflections, hopeful provocations, and practical takeaways on how museums can move from audience engagement to genuine relationship-building—creating “soft spaces” of trust, empathy, and wellbeing in a world that needs them more than ever.

This process transformed not only a space, but relationships. By listening deeply and sharing creative agency, the museum built new trust with a generation often disconnected from cultural institutions. The result was profound: 100% of visitors reported improved mood and greater feelings of calm and community.

Happy Place shows how rethinking values and purpose can help museums bridge worlds—between generations, disciplines, and emotional realities. It challenges us to lead with empathy, design for care, and rebuild trust through authentic connection.