Museum of the year finalists announced
by Jason Holland | 25 Apr 2014
Tate Britain is on the shortlist for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year
The Art Fund has announced the six shortlisted candidates to become the UK’s Museum of the Year.
Two national galleries in London – the Hayward Gallery and Tate Britain – made the list, along with Portsmouth's Mary Rose Museum, which opened in May 2013 and houses the remains of Henry VIII's flagship.
The winner, to be announced on 9 July, will receive the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year.
Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, in East Sussex, made the shortlist following a major redevelopment project. It aimed to display the museum’s collection within the environment in which the objects were created, by artists who lived and worked in Ditchling in the 20th century.
Norwich’s Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts also made the shortlist after a two-year redevelopment project, while Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in Wakefield, was selected for the strength of its exhibitions and displays, as well as the success of its innovative learning programme, which the Art Fund said had engaged new audiences and provided a unique art experience for hard-to-reach groups.
“2013 was a strong year, by any standards, for UK museums. It is almost as if imaginative and innovative curatorship, combined with the highest standards of presentation, is no longer the exception but the rule. No wonder that the international reputation of UK museums is riding so high,” said Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director and chair of the judging panel.
The judges – who will now visit each museum in turn – are Sally Bacon, director of the Clore Duffield Foundation; artist Michael Craig-Martin; Wim Pijbes, director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; and Anna Somers Cocks, chief executive of the Art Newspaper.
London’s William Morris Gallery won the prize last year. The Art Fund, a national fundraising charity, launched the award in 2003 as the Gulbenkian Prize. It became the Art Fund Prize in 2008.
Visit the official website for the competition here.
The Art Fund has announced the six shortlisted candidates to become the UK’s Museum of the Year. Two national galleries in London – the Hayward Gallery and Tate Britain – made the list, along with Portsmouth's Mary Rose Museum, which opened in May 2013 and houses the remains of Henry VIII's flagship. The winner, to be announced on 9 July, will receive the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for
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