Regenerative
Museums
Research Project
by Lucimara Letelier
Introducing the"Regenerative Museums" web series, featuring interviews that explore the concept of regenerative museums and how regenerative development principles and frameworks apply to the museum sector.
The series is based on the research "Regenerative Museums: Reshaping the Museums' Role in Addressing Social and Environmental Collapse" by Lucimara Letelier from the University of Leicester in the UK.
"RegenerativeMuseums" encourages museums to embrace regenerative principles to adapt, mitigate, and build resilience in the face of climate and social collapse. Each video features an interview with a museum professional or a regenerative thinker discussing the potential of applying regenerative design to museums.
Participants:
Bill Reed, Bridget Mckenzie, Daniel Wahl, Esme Ward, Evy Weezendonk, Felipe Tavares, Jenny Newell, Juliana Diniz, Marlucia Santos,
Nick Merriman, Robert Janes, Terezinha Martins, Hannah Hartley!
Daniel Wahl
Daniel Christian Wahl is one of the catalysts of the rising reGeneration and the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures - so far translated into seven languages. He works as a consultant, educator and activist with NGOs, businesses, governments and global change agents. With degrees in biology and holistic science, and a PhD in Design for Human and Planetary Health, his work has influenced the emerging fields of regenerative design and salutogenic design. Winner of the 2021 RSA Bicentenary Medal for applying design in service to society. Awarded a two year Volans-Fellowship in 2022.
Esme Ward
Esme Ward is Director of Manchester Museum, at The University of Manchester, with a commitment to lead the world's most inclusive, imaginative and caring museum. She is the first woman in Manchester Museum's 128-year history to hold the role of Museum Director. Esme has worked in museums and heritage as an educator and cultural leader for over 25 years, including at the V&A, National Trust
She led the £15 million major transformation of Manchester Museum, which reopened in February 2023. She aims to renew the creative and civic purpose of the university museum. She is currently leading work with others to develop practice and policy on repatriation, ecological stewardship and building an ethics of care in museums.
About the Researcher
Lucimara Letelier
Consultant, trainer, and researcher in sustainable development and regeneration in the cultural sector & museums. ICOM Sustain Vice-chair (ICOM Sustainable Development & Museums committee), Designer in Sustainable Development (Gaia Education/UNESCO partner), trained by Al Gore Foundation (Climate Leadership), Regenerative Economy, Regenerative Development Institute.
She is a Creative Green Researcher at Julie´s Bicycle, working with consultancy and training programs in climate leadership for the arts & culture sector and a Ki Culture Coach, a global organisation with capacity-building programs in sustainable practices (environmental, social, and economic) for the arts & Culture (Argentina, Africa, US and Canada).
25 years of experience in arts & culture organisations in Brazil, the US and the UK, including the Museum of Modern Art (Deputy Director), British Council (Deputy Director of Arts), ActionAid (Head of Fundraising), Arts Bienal, Boston Children's Museum and the Guggenheim Museum.
She holds a Master's in Museums Studies – Green Museum Specialism (University of Leicester, UK) and a Master's in Arts Administration (Boston University, US).
Lucimara is the founder and Director of RegeneraMuseu, an organisation committed to fostering sustainable practices within museums and the arts & Culture sector to champion climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience in Brazil and internationally.
Updates
Articles, Conferences, videos related to the Research
How to make your museums alive: an interview about Regenerative Museums with Lucimara Letelier.
Interview in France
Is your museum alive? Do you feel alive as a museum professional? Lucimara Letelier tackled those two questions at MuseumNext London in 2018. She has been working since 2017 on projects integrating regenerative thinking and museums. Throughout this interview, she explains what the concept of regenerative museums means, its principles, and some examples of how to have ideas, take action, and commit to change.
Available in English, French and in Portuguese in the site Metis, written by Julie Besson.
“Regenerative Museums for Sustainable Futures”: ICOM UK 2025 Conference invited Lucimara Letelier to the Organizing Commitee.
Conference in the UK
The 2025 ICOM UK conference “Regenerative Museums for Sustainable Futures” will take place on 1 and 2 May 2025, in Liverpool, UK, and the core theme of the conference is inspired by the REgenerative Museums concept presented by Lucimara in Seoul, July 2024.
From Sustainability to Regeneration: challenges, opportunities and responsibilities for the future
Conference in South Korea
The ICOM International Museum Research and Exchange Centre (ICOM-IMREC) and ICOM Korea presented the “Museums and the Sustainable Development Goals – Towards 2023” Conference in Seoul, South Korea, in July 2024. Lucimara Letelier was invited as a Keynote Speaker, together with Robert Janes, presenting the findings from her research and reflections to the museums sector.
Regenerative Museums:
Natural Future History Museums sustaining life!
Lecture in Oxford (Oxford Natural History Museum)
This reflective lecture considers how Natural History Museums can shape the future narrative of nature, which we will pass on to future generations, and how we can work in the present to create a more positive natural future. How can we add a social-ecological lens that allows narratives to be shifted to expand audiences' abilities to become regenerators of their local contexts and committed to being active in building community resilience for uncertain futures?
Interviews
Research participants are from museums or Regenerative practices.
New interview videos will be released every week in the youtube playlist.
Endorsement from Robert Janes
"Our civilization has done irreparable damage to the natural world, and the world’s museums have an obligation and the opportunity to heal this rupture using their unique strengths, knowledge, public trust, and deep sense of time. Regenerative thinking is long overdue as a foundational museum practice, and Lucimara Letelier’s work is an invaluable guide in applying this thinking to museum method and theory.
Of vital importance is acknowledging that not only must museums attend to their own sustainability and that of their communities, but they must also assume their role as stewards of the More-Than-Human-World. Too many museums have overlooked the meaning of interdependence in their work, and regenerative thinking is the bridge that enables a broad web of societal and ecological relationships to be recognized and nurtured. The application of regenerative thinking in museum practice is destined to reshape the role of museums in addressing social and environmental collapse, and Letelier provides an essential blueprint to lead the way."
Robert R. Janes
Former museum director, author, founder of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice, and currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester (UK); Author of "Museums and societal collapse: the museum as lifeboat" (2024) and Museums without Borders (2015).
