Geraldine Kendall Adams, Finalists announced for Museum of the Year 2024, Museums Association, 30 April 2024

Art Fund reveals the five institutions shortlisted for this year’s £120,000 prize.

Art Fund has announced the five museums in the running to be Museum of the Year 2024.

This year’s finalists are:

• Craven Museum in Skipton, North Yorkshire, which covers archaeology, textiles, fine art, literature and social history from pre-history to the present day.
• Dundee Contemporary Arts in Dundee, a contemporary arts organisation featuring two art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio and award-winning learning programme.
• Manchester Museum, which reopened in February 2023 following an extensive renovation. The museum is home to home to around 4.5 million objects from natural sciences and human cultures.
• The National Portrait Gallery in London, which reopened in June 2023 following a major three-year transformation project.
• Young V&A in east London, part of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which reopened in July 2023 following a redevelopment created with and for children and young people.

The winner of the £120,000 award – the largest museum prize in the world – will be announced at a ceremony at London’s National Gallery in July. The other four finalists will each receive £15,000.

Art Fund says this year’s nominees put a particular focus on “community engagement, sustainable ways of working, and demonstration of ambition by reinventing what it means to be ‘the best’ museum for the audiences of today and tomorrow”.

The judging panel for the 2024 award is chaired by Art Fund director Jenny Waldman and includes Anupam Ganguli, finance director at Historic Royal Palaces, broadcaster Vick Hope, artist Tania Kovats and John Leighton, former director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The judges will visit each of the finalists before the award ceremony to inform their decision-making.

“The shortlisted museums for this year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year prize are shining examples of the impact museums are making locally and nationally,” said Waldman.

“Each of our finalists truly has something for everyone and all have community at the very heart of their programming. Their commitment to innovative partnerships whilst operating within an extremely challenging funding environment is incredible, and I’m so pleased to see the way they support and centre young people through their work.

“Across a wide range of size and scale, these organisations are all real leaders in their field. I urge everyone to go and visit these extremely special spaces.”

The award will continue its collaboration with the BBC this year and the ceremony will be promoted and broadcast on BBC channels.

Skipton Town Hall, which runs Craven Museum, said it was “incredibly proud” that the museum had been shortlisted.

The National Portrait Gallery wrote on X: “We’re delighted to announce that we have been nominated for Art Fund Museum of Year 2024.”

Manchester Museum used its famous spider crab exhibit to announce that it was a finalist.

Dundee Contemporary Arts said: “We’re delighted to be among such great company on the Art Fund #MuseumOfTheYear 2024 shortlist.

Young V&A said: “We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been shortlisted as one of five fantastic finalists for Art Fund’s Museum of the Year 2024.”

Art Fund has run the prestigious award since 2013. Previous winners include the William Morris Gallery in London (2013), Tate St Ives in Cornwall (2018) and the Burrell Collection in Glasgow (2023).