Judges announced for The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries 2007
1/11/06

The judges for the Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries are announced. Chaired by author and broadcaster, Francine Stock, the line-up consists of museum consultant, Tristram Besterman; Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Richard Calvocoressi; The Guardian’s Architecture Editor, Jonathan Glancey; scientist and Director of the Materials Library, Dr Mark Miodownik; historian and broadcaster, Dan Snow; and broadcaster, Mohini Sule.

Now in its fifth year, the Gulbenkian Prize has established itself as one of the leading prizes in the arts world.   It is given annually to one museum or gallery anywhere in the UK, regardless of its size or budget, with the aim of raising public awareness of their work.  

Earlier this year, Brunel’s ss Great Britain attracted a record number of visitors in the week following its win.  The world’s first great ocean liner was described by the judges as ‘outstanding at every level, combining a truly groundbreaking piece of conservation, remarkable engineering and fascinating social history.’

The closing date for entries for the 2007 prize is November 3rd 2006. The long list of ten will be announced early in 2007, followed by the announcement of the short list of four in April 2007. The winner will be announced during Museums and Galleries Month on May 24th 2007 at an awards ceremony at the Royal Institution of British Architects, London. In addition to a cheque for £100,000, the winning museum holds for one year the Gulbenkian Prize bowl in enamelled silver, commissioned from the artist Vladimir Böhm.

The Judges

• Francine Stock (Chair)
  Francine Stock is a novelist, journalist and broadcaster. She read Modern Languages at Oxford before starting work in magazines and newspapers. Her work for the BBC spans a wide range of television programmes including Newsnight, The Antiques Show and several documentary series. For BBC Radio, she presented Radio 4’s weekday arts programme Front Row for six years and currently fronts The Film Programme. Her novels include A Foreign Country (shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award) and Man-Made Fibre. She is chair of Tate Members.
• Tristram Besterman
  Continuing a thirty year career in museums, Tristram Besterman now works freelance. Tristram’s work on museum ethics, scholarship, management and leadership has focused on the social interaction and value, accountability and sustainability of museums.  Tristram is now based in Cornwall, the latest move in a career that began in London in 1971 and proceeded by way of Sydney, Sheffield, Warwick, Plymouth and Manchester. He is particularly interested in the social purpose of museums as democratic places of cultural engagement and the way that museums at their best startle, challenge and delight us through the revelation of narrative embedded in objects and contexts.
• Richard Calvocoressi
  Richard Calvocoressi was educated at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute of Art.  He has been Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh since 1987 and was formerly a curator at the Tate Gallery (1979-87).  During his time in Edinburgh, he has built up the Scottish national collection as an important centre for Dada and Surrealist art and literature. He has also developed the grounds of the gallery for sitting sculpture; in 2004 it was awarded The Gulbenkian Prize for its spectacular ‘Landform’ commissioned from Charles Jencks.  He has published on various artists including Magritte, Klee, Kokoschka, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Lee Miller, Tinguely and Baselitz.  He is a member of the René Magritte authentication committee.
• Jonathan Glancey
  Jonathan Glancey is the Architecture and Design Editor of The Guardian, a post he previously held at The Independent.  Prior to this he was assistant editor of the Architectural Review, editor of The Architect and a founding editor of the architecture and design magazine, Blueprint. He is the author of several books on architecture, a contributor to architecture and design magazines, as well as a regular television and radio broadcaster.  His private passions include flying light aircraft, and he has recently published Spitfire: The Biography.
• Dr Mark Miodownik
  Dr Mark Miodownik received his BA in Materials Science from St Catherine's College, Oxford in 1992, and his Ph.D in turbine jet engine alloys from Oxford University in 1996.  He is head of the Materials Research Group at King's College London. In 2003 he was awarded a NESTA fellowship to create a Materials Library as interaction space for designers, architects and artists to collaborate with materials scientists (www.materialslibrary.org.uk). In 2004 he co-presented a BBC2 TV pilot called 'Chain Reaction', and in 2005 he co-organised and chaired two seminars at the Tate Modern on the influence of new materials on the arts. He is a member of the Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Group.
• Dan Snow
  After studying history at Balliol College, Oxford, Dan Snow was asked by the BBC to co present the 60th anniversary programme of the Battle of El Alamein in November 2002. Straight away the BBC asked for another eight programmes on great battles of British history. The series Battlefield Britain was transmitted in summer 2004 and another series on 20th century world battles is in production for next summer. In between filming battles Dan has worked with BBC special events to commemorate occasions such as Trafalgar and VE/J day and the Falklands War.
• Mohini Sule
  After graduating from University College London, where she studied French Literature, Mohini’s career in television began as a researcher with BBC Birmingham. She was a finalist in the BBC Talent scheme in 2000 and not long afterwards began presenting for CBBC across various platforms including science show Eureka!, and live youth show Smile. More recently she has been hosting
  The UKTOP10 on movie channel Eat Cinema and in 2006 she was a reporter for the popular BBC2 daytime show The People’s Museum. Mohini can also be seen reporting for BBC2 culture show
  Desi DNA.

www.thegulbenkianprize.org.uk

Notes to editors:

• The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is administered by The Museum Prize, a charitable company created in 2001 by the Campaign for Museums, the Museums Association, The Art Fund and National Heritage. These organisations agreed to put aside award schemes they formerly ran (including the National Heritage Museum of the Year) and lend their support to the prize. The Museum Prize is chaired by Penelope, Viscountess Cobham. The Trustees include representatives of all four founding organisations.
• The UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, whose headquarters are in Lisbon, is responsible for grant aid in the UK and Republic of Ireland and runs funding programmes in arts, social change, education and Anglo-Portuguese cultural relations. The Foundation celebrated its 50th anniversary with a season of special events throughout 2006 highlighting the work of the Foundation in the UK, including the publication of a new book on the history of the UK Branch and the 2006 Atlantic Waves festival featuring world-class Portuguese musicians.
• Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was a distinguished private collector. His collections are housed in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, which is recognised as one of the world’s best small museums. The Foundation’s Modern Art Centre, also in Lisbon, has one of the largest collections of contemporary British art outside the UK. A selection of these works are currently on display at Tate Britain.
• The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is supporting The Gulbenkian Prize by guaranteeing prize money of £100,000 a year over five years; it is also providing some of the funding for administration.
• The Prize is supported by The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the national development agency working for and on behalf of museums, libraries and archives and advising government on policy and priorities for the sector. MLA supports the Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries under Renaissance, its ground-breaking programme to transform England’s regional museums.
  

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