Latest news with #GoldenThreadGallery
Belfast Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Council announces plans to turn historic NI home at park into ‘cultural visitor experience'
Golden Thread Gallery has secured £83,270 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake a feasibility study in partnership with Belfast City Council, which owns Wilmont House, which is a Grade B+ listed building, with the council also saying it is carrying out a condition assessment of the property to inform the study. The feasibility work will explore the viability of transforming Wilmont House into 'a community and arts space' that 'celebrates the building's built, cultural, and environmental heritage.' It also aims to make the most of its distinctive open space setting with a consultation among park users and community groups planned for the summer. Footage of historic building - Potential restoration of Wilmont House moves a step close Once complete, the findings from both the feasibility study and the condition assessment will be brought before councillors to decide how to progress any future works, including exploring a range of funding options. Peter Richards and Sarah McAvera, Co-Directors with Golden Thread Gallery, said it will hopefully offer a 'unique experience for visitors.' 'We are thrilled to be working along with The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Belfast City Council on the feasibility of restoring Wilmont House as a cultural venue,' they said. 'The gallery has been developing a collection of Northern Irish Art and Northern Ireland's first Visual Arts Research Library and Archive since 2019. This project will assess whether Wilmont House is an appropriate home for these and other collections to be seen and enjoyed by the residents of and visitors to Belfast. 'Wilmont House offers the perfect opportunity to blend art, culture and the environment and create a unique experience for visitors that could include sculpture trails, art activities, exhibitions and reading rooms.' The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray, also celebrated the work and added: 'This is just the first step in a lengthy process and, while it isn't a guarantee that Wilmont House can be returned to its former glory any time soon, it's still a moment worth marking. 'Previous expressions of interest processes have not secured an economically viable use for this beautiful building, but we recognise its significance to the city, and the park, and we want to find a way of bringing it back into use that really works. 'Golden Thread Gallery approached the council last year with a vision for Wilmont House which reflects the amazing work they have done at Queen Street in Belfast city centre, transforming the former Craftworld premises into a vibrant gallery space with a strong community engagement ethos. 'Thanks to National Lottery players, our council has been able to access funding to breathe new life into other historic buildings, most recently at the Strand Cinema and Templemore Baths. We value the Heritage Fund's support to Golden Thread Gallery to undertake this feasibility study. 'This is an opportunity worth exploring and, while the concept of a community and arts space may grow and change as both these pieces of work progress, I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Wilmont House.' Dr Paul Mullan, Northern Ireland Director at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: 'Finding a sustainable future for Wilmont House is of great public interest and we are committed to strengthening heritage to be adaptive and financially resilient so that it contributes to communities and economies. 'We are pleased to be able to support Golden Thread Gallery with funding to provide capacity and expertise to develop their long-term organisational and financial plans and consider the role that Wilmont House could play in realising them.'
Time Out
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The five finalists for Art Fund's UK Museum of the Year 2025 have been revealed – and none are in London
Art Fund Museum of the year is basically the Oscars of the museum world. With £120,000 up for grabs, it's one of the most coveted awards that a UK gallery or attraction can get. Each year, judges look for places that have delivered brilliant projects or exhbitions and embraced community spirit, spotlighting a 'wide range of remarkable people'. Last year the top gong was won by London's Young V&A. This year, Art Fund has picked five museums across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that stood out between autumn 2023 and winter 2024. Jenny Waldman, the director at Art Fund said: 'This year's finalists are inspiring examples of museums at their best – deeply connected to their local communities, responsive to the world around them, and alive with energy and ideas. Each one offers a distinctive experience, showing the endless creativity and care that goes into making museums inspiring and exciting spaces for everyone.' Here's everything you need to know about each contender for this year's grand prize. Spoiler: not one of them are in London. The five museums shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025 Beamish, The Living Museum of the North (County Durham) This open-air attraction takes visitors through northeast England's history, from the Georgian era to the 1950s with live actors and immersive exhibits. It made the shortlist this year for its Remaking Beamish project, which involved over 32,000 community members, 14,338 schoolchildren, and 35,000 volunteer hours to create 31 new exhibits within the museum. It also opened the aged miners' homes to tell the story of retired miners in the region and this year, it'll also host the Festival of Transport to celebrate 200 years of the National Railway. Chapter (Cardiff) Cardiff's international centre for contemporary arts has been commended by Art Fund for prioritising 'social and cultural equity, connection and shared purpose'. Chapter recently started offering free studio spcae through an artist residency programme, launched Wales' largest festival of D/deaf-led creative activity and expanded its 'pay what you can' pricing and free community ticketing scheme. A highlight in its upcoming programme is screening of Steve McQueen: Grenfell, which will be playing from May 10 to June 15. Compton Verney (Warwickshire) Compton Verney boasts six art collections, a sculpture park and a cafe that ArtFund says 'offers enriching experiences for a wide range of audiences'. 2024 was the year that it unveiled its Scultpture in the Park exhibition with works by artists like Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong and Helen Chadwick. It also won recognition for its commitment to breaking down barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities. Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast) Belfast's Golden Thread Gallery, a contemporary art hub, reopened in August 2024 after a year hiatus. It's grand reopening revealed two large new gallery spaces, a a community participation hub, and the Northern Ireland Visual Art Research Library and Archive, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Perth Museum (Perth & Kinross) Sat in the former Perth City Hall, Perth Museum showcases 10,000 years of Scottish, UK and global history. There, you'll find the Stone of Destiny (an important ancient symbol of the Scottish monarchy), Shakespeare's First Folio and loads of medieval treasures. It opened in March last year after a huge £27 million renovation of the building. ArtFund notes that it has given a significant boost to the local economy, with Perth and Kinross Council reporting an average city centre footfall increase of 68 percent since opening. When is the winner announced? The winning museum will be revealed in a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool on June 26. Previous winners The very first Museum of the Year prize was awarded to London's William Morris Gallery. Here's a roundup of all the winners since then. 2024 – Young V&A, London 2023 – The Burrell Collection, Glasgow 2022 – Horniman Museum and Gardens, London 2021 – Firstsite, Colchester 2020 - Aberdeen Art Gallery; Gairloch Museum; Science Museum; South London Gallery; and Towner Eastbourne. 2019 - St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff 2018 - Tate St Ives 2017 - The Hepworth, Wakefield 2016 - Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London 2015 - Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 2014 - Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield 2013 - William Morris Gallery, London
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Five UK museums ‘alive with ideas and energy' shortlisted for Art Fund prize
Five UK museums, all 'alive with ideas and energy', in Belfast, Cardiff, Perth, Warwickshire and County Durham are to compete for the world's largest prize given to a museum. The Art Fund Museum of the Year prize offers the winner a gamechanging prize of £120,000, with £15,000 going to each of the other finalists. The 2025 shortlist, announced on Tuesday, has museums from all four nations of the UK represented. They are Beamish in County Durham, Chapter in Cardiff, Compton Verney in Warwickshire, the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast and Perth Museum, home of the Stone of Destiny, in Scotland. Jenny Waldman, the Art Fund director, said all five were 'inspiring examples of museums at their best – deeply connected to their local communities, responsive to the world around them, and alive with energy and ideas'. Beamish, the 'Living Museum of the North', a hugely popular open-air museum, tells immersive social and industrial history stories from the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s in north-east England. Visitors travel through the different settings in old trams and buses and experience stories of ordinary life, whether down the mines or at the shops, told by staff and volunteers in period costume. In the past year the museum has completed a project called Remaking Beamish which includes the recreation of a 1950s town complete with a cinema, toyshop, electrical and record shop and milk bar. Perth Museum opened in March 2024 after a £27m renovation of a building which had been closed since 2005. It tells '10,000 years of Scottish, UK and world history through a local lens'. Its star attraction is the Stone of Destiny, which has been returned to Perthshire for the first time in 700 years. The stone, an ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy, has been used in Westminster coronations since it was taken as war booty by the forces of the English king Edward I in 1296. It was under the throne again for Charles III's coronation. Since the new museum opened it has attracted more than 250,000 visitors, including 100,000 people in less than 100 days. Giving it a five-star review, the Guardian's Jonathan Jones wrote: 'This is a local museum that reinvents local museums.' The Golden Thread Gallery is Belfast's leading contemporary art gallery which reopened in a new space, the city's former Gas Corporation showroom, in August 2024 after a year's closure. The new venue includes two large gallery spaces, a projection room and a visual art research library and archive which is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Artists to have been exhibited include Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire Morgan. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Compton Verney is a grand Georgian country house art gallery, home to six world-class art collections and set within 120 acres of Capability Brown parkland. Last year it unveiled its new sculpture park which includes a Louise Bourgeois spider and works by Sarah Lucas, Perminder Kaur, Larry Achiampong and Helen Chadwick. Chapter in Cardiff is a multi-arts space that includes galleries, theatres, cinemas, artists' studios and a community garden. It says it is committed to equitable arts programming and recently introduced an artist residency programme offering free studio space. The winner will be announced at the Museum of Liverpool on 26 June. The judging panel is the artist Rana Begum, the comedian Phil Wang, the Tate director of research and interpretation, David Dibosa, and Jane Richardson, the chief executive of Museum Wales. Previous winners of the prize range from the enormous, such as the V&A, to the tiny, such as the William Morris gallery in Walthamstow, east London. Last year's winner was the Young V&A in Bethnal Green, east London.
