The UK’s 2,500 museums, galleries and heritage sites have from today until 27th January 2025 to apply for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, the world’s largest museum prize.
Art Fund Museum of the Year will award £120,000 to the winning museum. £15,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists – bringing the total prize money to £180,000.
Art Fund is seeking applications from any UK museum, gallery or historic place, whatever their scale, for outstanding and inspiring projects between autumn 2023 through to winter 2024.
For the 2025 edition of the prize, in addition to looking at the overall achievements of the organisation, the judges are tasked to identify impactful projects that spotlight the wide range of people that bring museums to life, including museum staff, by engaging with and working meaningfully alongside communities, families and younger visitors, artists and creatives.
A shortlist of five museums will be announced in early May 2025 and the winner will be revealed in late June at an award ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, the first time the event will be held outside of London.
Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director and Art Fund Museum of the Year chair of judges, said,
“Art Fund Museum of the Year celebrates the exceptional power of the UK’s leading museums and the vital role they play in their communities. This year, we’re shining a light on the inspiring individuals who make these spaces so valuable and welcoming to the many audiences they serve. We encourage museums of all sizes, from every corner of the country, that are engaging with their communities in innovative ways, to apply.”
Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024 was award to Young V&A in east London. Dr Helen Charman, Director of Young, was presented with the £120,000 prize by the broadcaster Vick Hope at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London.
There are around 2,500 museums in the UK, many of them free, including national museums, local authority museums, university museums, independent museums, historic properties and heritage sites. Art Fund Museum of the Year complements Art Fund’s charitable programme in support of museums, which includes grant giving, support and partnerships.
The prize is funded thanks to the generosity of Art Fund’s members who buy a National Art Pass. Art Pass holders enjoy discounts and benefits at the shortlisted museums and hundreds more across the UK.
MORE: artfund.org/art-fund-museum-of-the-year
