THE HERDS evaluation: Making the global climate initiative local
In 2025 Art Fund supported museums across the UK to take part in global climate action project THE HERDS. Read our evaluation here.
An epic climate action project, THE HERDS saw herds of life-size puppet animals stampede into cities from central Africa to the Arctic Circle, fleeing climate disaster.
Art Fund supported museums across the UK to deliver creative activities inspired by their journey.
In just a few months, 43 of the museums in National Art Pass network:
engaged more than 117,000 participants and visitors across the UK
delivered 272 public activities and workshops
created 28 displays
worked with 46 schools
worked with 163 partner organisations including local festivals, county shows, wildlife trusts and litter picking groups
Evaluation and case studies
Our evaluation of the programme highlights the effectiveness of small grants programmes in supporting cross-sector collaboration and creating positive conversations around difficult topics such as the climate crisis.
It highlights the benefits of:
Convening a cohort: Connecting museum professionals to share knowledge and find inspiration instilled confidence in them to do more and think bigger.
Using collections and spaces in new ways: Taking inspiration from collection items, museum buildings and gardens and working in interdisciplinary ways can open up conversations and engage audiences in unexpected ways. Objects and works of art, crafting activities, and even the insects in museum gardens work well as prompts for learning more about climate science and social issues.
Contextualising contemporary issues: Museums are places where global issues can be explored by communities in a local context. By collaborating with experts, using their objects and highlighting local stories, museums can make global issues feel tangible and accessible.
Collaboration beyond the sector: Partnering with local carnivals, festivals, fetes, wildlife organisations, beach cleans etc. creates new connections, extends reach and can diversify audiences.
Download THE HERDS Art Fund Grants evaluation
Download THE HERDS Art Fund Grants case studies
It has definitely encouraged me to think a bit bigger
THE HERDS: Making the global local through collections, creative activities and partnerships
Museums are trusted spaces for holding conversations about the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis. Our findings show that using collections, building local partnerships and hosting creative activities can make museums even more effective spaces for learning, conversation and the building of optimism and hope in the face of the climate crisis.
If you are interested in exploring this further, check out the following resources, which we developed to support this project and the museum sector:
Toolkit: Rethinking environmental responsibility in programming
Resource: How to take a low-carbon approach to your work online
Case studies: Climate action in practice at UK museums and galleries