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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
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Inspiring' Museum of the Year nominees all outside London
The nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year have been announced, with all five finalists being located outside of London for the first time in four years. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is up for the £120,000 prize-winning pot alongside Cardiff's Chapter and Compton Verney in Warwickshire. Belfast's Golden Thread Gallery and the Perth Museum in Perth and Kinross round off the shortlist. The winner will be announced on Thursday 26 June at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, marking the first time the event has ever been held outside of the UK capital. Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said that this year's finalists "are inspiring examples of museums at their best" and "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," she noted, speaking on behalf of the award judges. Let's take a closer look at the nominees for this year's prize, which are all now guaranteed to receive at least £15,000. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is an open-air museum which reflects life in north east England in the 19th and 20th centuries. It brings Georgian, Edwardian and war-time history to life through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and volunteers. Judges praised Beamish for continuing its "long-standing commitment to preserving local heritage" and its "exceptional visitor experience". In the past year the museum has completed its Remaking Beamish project, which saw the recreation of a 1950s town developed with community input, as well as the opening of the aged miners' homes (AMH), which tells the story of welfare provision provided for retired miners. This year, as part of the National Railway 200 celebrations, it will also host the Festival of Transport (24 May-1 June). Chapter is an international centre for contemporary arts in Cardiff, which includes a gallery, artists' studios, theatres and cinema screenings. In recent years, the centre has commissioned fourteen exhibitions by diverse international artists - including Adham Faramawy, Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye and Abi Palmer - which have explored themes from climate crisis to materiality. The Arts Fund noted how Chapter "continues to co-create exceptional programmes that enrich Cardiff's cultural landscape", from printmaking to music. It offers "pay what you can" pricing and free community tickets, and also recently introduced an artist residency programme with free studio space, and launched Wales' largest festival of deaf-led creative activity, Deaf Gathering Cymru. Compton Verney in Warwickshire has six art collections, a sculpture park and café, set within a Grade I-listed 18th Century mansion. The gallery was described as "a vibrant cultural destination committed to making art accessible to all by connecting people with art, nature, and creativity". Last year, it unveiled its Sculpture in the Park exhibition featuring works by artists such as Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Helen Chadwick and Erika Verzutti. The venue invites artists and communities to reimagine its 18th Century facade, and its exhibitions have also explored the legacies of the likes of Capability Brown, Louise Bourgeois and Chila Kumari Singh Burman. More than 6,000 schoolchildren have visited and participated in early creative projects, while recent initiatives have also included a monthly dementia café and an upcoming large-scale multimedia exhibition of work, reflecting on life and death, by Emma Talbot (5 July-5 October). The jury noted the museum's commitment to "breaking down barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities." Contemporary arts space Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast features two large galleries, a community participation and engagement hub, and Northern Ireland's first visual art library and archive. After closing in 2023, the gallery reopened last year at a new Queen Street address in the city centre, presenting exhibitions by artists including Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire Morgan. Since reopening it has welcomed more than 23,000 visitors. The gallery partnered with Translink NI to help produce a public sculpture by Kevin Killen incorporating local narratives and community stories at the redeveloped York Street station. This summer it will host the video and photographic works of Sophie Calle with her exhibition Beyond the Gaze - Shared Perspectives (21 June-27 August). Perth Museum serves as the new home of the Stone of Destiny, one of Scotland's most cherished treasures, which has returned to Perthshire after more than 700 years. The civic museum opened last year following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, by Dutch architects Mecanoo, enabling it to tell the story of Scottish history. The Stone of Destiny experience uses immersive modern technology to frame the contested object within the story of the medieval boy king of Scotland, Alexander III. A new exhibition exploring the history and legacy of Macbeth is now underway (25 April-31 August 2025). The museum has been building partnerships with 10 primary schools, helping students, teachers and communities to connect with their heritage. Since its opening, Perth Museum has attracted around 250,000 visitors, boosting the local economy. The Art Fund is the national charity for museums and galleries. The last time its main prize shortlist totally overlooked London - where many of the nation's biggest museums were historically located - was in 2021, when the award was ultimately won by Firstsite in Colchester, Essex. Waldman added she hoped this year's award would "inspire" people to visit some "remarkable places" in their local region and help them "discover the powerful role they can play in our lives." Whichever one of the five museums wins will succeed last year's winner, the Young V&A in 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.
BBC News
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025: 'Inspiring' nominees all outside London
The nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year have been announced, with all five finalists being located outside of London for the first time in four The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is up for the £120,000 prize-winning pot alongside Cardiff's Chapter and Compton Verney in Golden Thread Gallery and the Perth Museum in Perth and Kinross round off the winner will be announced on Thursday 26 June at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, marking the first time the event has ever been held outside of the UK capital. Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said that this year's finalists "are inspiring examples of museums at their best" and "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," she noted, speaking on behalf of the award take a closer look at the nominees for this year's prize, which are all now guaranteed to receive at least £15,000. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is an open-air museum which reflects life in north east England in the 19th and 20th brings Georgian, Edwardian and war-time history to life through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and praised Beamish for continuing its "long-standing commitment to preserving local heritage" and its "exceptional visitor experience".In the past year the museum has completed its Remaking Beamish project, which saw the recreation of a 1950s town developed with community input, as well as the opening of the aged miners' homes (AMH), which tells the story of welfare provision provided for retired year, as part of the National Railway 200 celebrations, it will also host the Festival of Transport (24 May-1 June). Chapter is an international centre for contemporary arts in Cardiff, which includes a gallery, artists' studios, theatres and cinema recent years, the centre has commissioned fourteen exhibitions by diverse international artists - including Adham Faramawy, Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye and Abi Palmer - which have explored themes from climate crisis to materiality. The Arts Fund noted how Chapter "continues to co-create exceptional programmes that enrich Cardiff's cultural landscape", from printmaking to offers "pay what you can" pricing and free community tickets, and also recently introduced an artist residency programme with free studio space, and launched Wales' largest festival of deaf-led creative activity, Deaf Gathering Cymru. Compton Verney in Warwickshire has six art collections, a sculpture park and café, set within a Grade I-listed 18th Century gallery was described as "a vibrant cultural destination committed to making art accessible to all by connecting people with art, nature, and creativity".Last year, it unveiled its Sculpture in the Park exhibition featuring works by artists such as Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Helen Chadwick and Erika Verzutti. The venue invites artists and communities to reimagine its 18th Century facade, and its exhibitions have also explored the legacies of the likes of Capability Brown, Louise Bourgeois and Chila Kumari Singh than 6,000 schoolchildren have visited and participated in early creative projects, while recent initiatives have also included a monthly dementia café and an upcoming large-scale multimedia exhibition of work, reflecting on life and death, by Emma Talbot (5 July-5 October).The jury noted the museum's commitment to "breaking down barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities." Contemporary arts space Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast features two large galleries, a community participation and engagement hub, and Northern Ireland's first visual art library and closing in 2023, the gallery reopened last year at a new Queen Street address in the city centre, presenting exhibitions by artists including Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire reopening it has welcomed more than 23,000 visitors. The gallery partnered with Translink NI to help produce a public sculpture by Kevin Killen incorporating local narratives and community stories at the redeveloped York Street summer it will host the video and photographic works of Sophie Calle with her exhibition Beyond the Gaze - Shared Perspectives (21 June-27 August). Perth Museum serves as the new home of the Stone of Destiny, one of Scotland's most cherished treasures, which has returned to Perthshire after more than 700 civic museum opened last year following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, by Dutch architects Mecanoo, enabling it to tell the story of Scottish Stone of Destiny experience uses immersive modern technology to frame the contested object within the story of the medieval boy king of Scotland, Alexander III.A new exhibition exploring the history and legacy of Macbeth is now underway (25 April-31 August 2025).The museum has been building partnerships with 10 primary schools, helping students, teachers and communities to connect with their its opening, Perth Museum has attracted around 250,000 visitors, boosting the local economy. 'Remarkable places' The Art Fund is the national charity for museums and last time its main prize shortlist totally overlooked London - where many of the nation's biggest museums were historically located - was in 2021, when the award was ultimately won by Firstsite in Colchester, added she hoped this year's award would "inspire" people to visit some "remarkable places" in their local region and help them "discover the powerful role they can play in our lives."Whichever one of the five museums wins will succeed last year's winner, the Young V&A in London.
