Six museums have been shortlisted for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. Included are The Whitworth in Manchester, which reopened earlier this year following a £15m redevelopment, and Belfast’s The MAC, which included the inaugural MAC International exhibition among its visual arts highlights of the past year.

The Whitworth has been nominated in part for its pre-opening programme which included a number of pop-up projects across Manchester and north-west England, and also for the strength of the opportunities it creates for people of all ages and all backgrounds to engage with art.

Multidisciplinary arts venue The MAC received its nomination for the strength of its visual arts programme, which saw a significant increase in profile and visitor numbers in 2014. Alongside the MAC International exhibition – which attracted over 1000 artist entries from around the world with the £20,000 prize going to Mairéad McClean – the programme included solo shows by Kara Walker and Peter Liversidge.

Also shortlisted are: Dunham Massey (National Trust), Altrincham; IWM London; Oxford University Museum of Natural History and HM Tower of London (Historic Royal Palaces). The Tower of London was shortlisted for its commission to mark the centenary of the First World War, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper.

Exciting and diverse shortlist

Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: “This is by any measure an exciting and diverse shortlist, showing great heights of creativity and ambition. Despite a difficult environment of funding cuts, UK museums continue to be inventive, surprising and exhilarating.”

The members of the Museum of the Year Prize 2015 Jury are: Stephen Deuchar (chair), director of the Art Fund; Michael Landy, artist; Alice Rawsthorn, design critic and author; Fiammetta Rocco, books and arts editor of The Economist;  and Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. The winner will be announced at Tate Modern on 1 July 2015.

As announced in December 2014, photographer Martin Parr has been commissioned to produce a portfolio of this year’s shortlisted museums.

www.artfund.org/prize

More on a-n.co.uk:

Whitworth Art Gallery: “It’s better than I could ever have dreamed of”

Yorkshire Sculpture Park announced as winner of Museum of the Year 2014

Martin Parr to document search for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2015

Tower of London installation: participation is key to aesthetic impact


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