We’re part of the community! Transport and Communication Museums as places of wellbeing

Museums serve many purposes – small and big. While we might often refer to the standards of collecting, safeguarding, exhibiting and communicating cultural history, there is more in store. This article focuses on the value of our work within and as part of our communities.

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We’ll get you there – museums of transport and technology are intertwined with our societies

When visiting the New York Transit Museum, you are met with an important claim: “Discover the Stories that move New York.” It is pretty much spot-on to what all of IATM’s member institutions share.

All of us derive our work from objects that used to be or are still part of the societies we engage in. Whether that is a tramway that transported people to work or a telephone our parents or grandparents used to stay in touch. However, museums are not only civic institutions in that they guard objects but also by engaging with their audiences. This focus has grown in the past. Thus, museums are more and more becoming a part of the social fabric (again).

We’re here for you – museums in service of society

From Ukraine…

Did you ever visit a first aid training? Where did it take place? The Korsak Art Museum in Luzk, Ukraine, quickly responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by offering free medical training at their site to anyone who was interested. Their past engagements with audiences outside their museum included a cooperation with the supermarket brand “Spar”. Art works or replicas were displayed at the different locations offering the chance to shop and engage with art. Now, the times called for an extremely different action. The museum responded by offering safety, space, and literal empowerment.

But it also continued their regular work, being a place to engage with art and meeting point. In balancing the two, the museum is a community space. Through the museums offerings, audiences can both immerse themselves in works of art or use the opportunity to strengthen their resilience.

… to Ireland

“The No Words project invited me to step into a different kind of conversation about domestic violence and abuse, one shaped not by data or policy, but by expression, stillness and presence. Collaborating with the National Gallery of Ireland and Andrea Plunkett whilst drawing inspiration from Lavinia Fontana’s work reminded me that art can reach places that language sometimes can’t.

Lavinia Fontana’s portraits held a quiet power and that same quietness exists in the lives of those who have experienced domestic violence and abuse; the pauses, the unspoken, the weight of what’s often carried alone. Through this project, we tried to honour that silence whilst giving voice to the voiceless.”

Nadine O’Brien, Director of Services, Saoirse Domestic Violence Services (SDVS) quoted in “Art, healing and museums” published by NEMO in December 2025, p. 10.

The No Words programme at the National Gallery of Ireland started as a pilot project in 2023 and has since become a sustained element of their work. It was a collaboration between the Gallery’s Education Department, art psychotherapist Andrea Plunkett, and Saoirse, a domestic violence support service. Through art psychotherapy at the museum, participants affected by violence, trauma and diverse forms of social marginalisation, engaged with art. It is an exceptional example of “how a national cultural institution can better own its civic duty, supporting emotional recovery, community connection, and systemic reflection through art.” (s.a., p. 11)

And on to Germany

When economic conditions change, societies are affected. Many IATM members are telling of former industrial sites or using these spaces today. Among them, the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (German Zeche Zollverein). The former industrial site in the city of Essen, Germany, was one of the largest coal mines in Europe until its closing. Immediately after the mine was closed down, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia bought the site in 1986 and declared part of it a heritage site. Subsequently, after negotiations failed, the state also supported the preservation of the cookery to become an exhibition site after closing down in 1993. Today, tours, cultural events and the regional museum (Ruhr museum) shape the site and are an example of saving a site that shaped a lot of history from becoming a site of loss and decay. Instead, it is a vibrant place that allows for a multitude of explorations along the sites telling of technological advancements.

Such examples should encourage us to look at what we can do to respond to the needs of our society or communities in order to be places strengthening wellbeing, resilience and care.

We’re with you – Museums responding to societal needs

Often, museums are looked at as places close to formal education and far from the private home. There is a shift taking place with social engagement and audience participation. We can contribute to our neighbourhoods, offer spaces, listen, and shape our world.

While the projects above may sound like large-scale endeavors, we can bridge the gaps at every level and take small steps.

Join us – your site and your neighbors at IATM’s 49th Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland

From opening your doors for audiences with babys, offering yoga classes in your spaces, or providing opportunities to meet. All of these seemingly small changes, can have an impressive meaning to your neighbors. We want to hear, share and discuss stories of museums and their neighborhoods at our next conference: Changing the Script: Transport and Communications Museums as engines of social, economic and cultural regeneration. Please join us and submit your entry to our Call for Papers!