Creating a sense of place: using creative facilitation and visual notetaking with Museum Development Midlands.

Illustrated graphic recording titled 'Future' summarising a Museum Development Midlands session, in a green, orange and blue hand-drawn style. A map of the UK and Ireland highlights the Midlands. Icons and captions cover key themes: an open door labelled 'keep the door open' and 'you're welcome'; a green banner reading 'be dynamic'; a knight figure with a shield reading 'be resilient' beside 'adapt' and 'collaborate'; a bar chart comparing museum numbers in 2026 versus 2076 with the question 'could museums vanish?'; a 'youth ambassador' figure and banner reading 'midland museums unite' linked to a smartphone icon. Illustrated buildings represent named museums and heritage sites - Pen Museum, Selly Manor Museum, The Almonry Museum and Tourist Information Centre, Tamworth Castle, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, and Bassetlaw Museum - connected by dotted ladder-like lines under the heading 'connect all museums'. Other text reads 'power sharing', 'can we collaborate with travel companies', 'use safe spaces', icons for a GP and home, 'be inclusive', 'belonging', 'evolve' beside a jigsaw piece, a figure under a sun labelled with a signpost, and 'outside museum walls'. A signpost at the bottom right points to 'past', 'present' and 'future'. The Museum Development Midlands logo appears in the bottom left corner

So much of what grounds our communities in a shared identity is intangible. Our museums, galleries, and heritage organisations capture this sense of place so meaningfully through artwork, performance, costume, and traditions. This work is essential because it promotes peace, nurtures wellbeing, bolsters economies, and encourages sustainable practices.

The ethereal beauty of culture, heritage, and our sense of place presents challenges for many practitioners. How can our museum teams convey their significance and stay relevant to diverse audiences? There’s a clear opportunity to cut through these challenges by introducing novel and engaging methodologies to encourage community members and fellow practitioners to meaningfully reflect on questions and issues, and to share their contributions in accessible and memorable ways.

In practice

Creative studio Buttercrumble recently supported museum practitioners and staff to cap off Museum Development Midlands’ (MDM) Sense of Place Programme. The programme investigated how museums can form a crucial part of a place’s identity and wellbeing. The programme also explores how creative practices support audiences by enhancing their wellbeing through community involvement and focus. By using creative facilitation and visual notetaking to capture MDM’s impact and achievements across the region and capture their continued vision through co-producing a memory map, the co-design session provided a fresh way to gather and share feedback, insight, and experiences.

How can we capture the intangible?

Visual notetaking captures key themes and threads that emerge from conversations in an accessible and creative way. It provides visual cues and metaphors to both record data and aid further dialogue and reflection, helping participants to see what matters.

A memory map encapsulates the past, present and future. Groups can discuss a series of questions about their museums and their communities. A map and photographs are provided to help participants share their reflections visually and in conversation.

Following the session, digital copies of the finished map and visual notes capturing the conversations were shared with participants to serve as an aide-memoire of the event and conversation in a way that cuts through written text on a screen and provides a point of conversation and reflection for further work.

What does this look like for you?

Creative facilitation and visual notetaking don’t just record conversations – they can actively shape them, create space for quieter voices, surface shared priorities, and turn abstract, intangible themes into something people can engage with and act on.

If you’re looking to capture your own community’s sense of place, here are a few simple ways to get started: 

• Create space for reflection - Build in time for participants to pause, think, and respond to thoughtful prompts about place, identity, and belonging.
• Make it visual - Use maps, prompts, images, or simple drawing tools to help people express ideas beyond words.
• Facilitate, don’t lead -  Encourage discussion through visual prompts and open-ended questions for richer, honest answers.
• Capture in real time - Visual notetaking, live sketching, or mapping helps participants see their contributions reflected instantly.
• Design for accessibility - Offer multiple ways to contribute (conversation, drawing, writing) to ensure everyone can take part.
• Share outputs meaningfully - Ensure participants leave with something tangible that continues the conversation beyond the session.

The impact

This creative approach made space for a collective moment of recognition for Museum Development Midlands and the Sense of Place Programme. Practitioners could see their shared experiences, challenges, and ambitions laid out in front of them, reinforcing a sense of connection across the region.

Crucially, the outputs aren’t static records. They act as living tools to spark future conversations, address challenges, and help teams communicate the value of their work to communities.

When we’re working with something as rich and intangible as a sense of place, traditional methods alone often fall short. By introducing creative, participatory approaches, we can invite people to see the impact and feel part of something bigger. There’s an opportunity not just to communicate cultural value, but to co-create it with the communities we serve.

Chloe Bladwin, director of the creative studio, Buttercrumble