Gulbenkian Prize Long list Announced

10/02/06

What makes a museum and gallery great in Britain today? The long list for The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries, announced today, Friday 10 February, aims to answer this question. As Britain’s biggest single arts prize, it is a £100,000 award given annually to one museum or gallery anywhere in the UK, and encompasses a panoply of projects both large and small.

Ranging from a new £33m national museum charting the industrial heritage of Wales to a new gallery run solely by volunteers at a medieval abbey in Oxfordshire, the Gulbenkian Prize long list reveals a desire for both cutting-edge technology and innovation in our museums, along with a keen nostalgia for our heritage.

The long list is as follows:

• Cambridge & County Folk Museum, Cambridge – redevelopment of a local folk museum that achieves an imaginative marriage of old and new  
• Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms, London – A new museum dedicated to the life and times of Winston Churchill
• Dorchester Abbey Museum, Dorchester-upon-Thames, Oxon – This superb collection of worked medieval stones tells the 1400 year old story of the Abbey
• Hunterian Museum, London – New permanent galleries displaying the oldest and most important medical collections in the world
• The Concorde Experience, Museum of Flight, Near Edinburgh – this £2 million museum redevelopment offers visitors the chance to see the world’s most iconic aircraft up close.
• National Waterfront Museum, Swansea – The new national museum that celebrates, through human stories, Welsh industry and innovation
• Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre, Great Missenden, Bucks – Brand new museum using Roald Dahl’s archive and work to inspire a love of stories
• The Collection: Art & Archaeology in Lincolnshire, Lincoln – New museum displaying fine art and artefacts from Roman, Viking and Medieval eras
• Brunel's SS Great Britain, Bristol – Brunel’s great ship superbly preserved for future generations
• Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, Yorkshire – The creation of The Underground Gallery, a new state-of-the-art gallery space

Professor Lord Winston, chair of the 2006 judges, says:

"This year's long list shows how museums and galleries, large and small, throughout the country are continuing to innovate and explore the boundaries. We, the judges, face a thrilling if difficult task ahead of us as we visit them over the coming months."

The 2006 judging panel represents a wide range of artistic, scientific and academic interests and museum experience.

With Robert Winston as chair, it comprises: 

• Michael Day, Chief Executive, Historic Royal Palaces
• Ekow Eshun, writer, journalist and broadcaster and artistic director of the ICA
• Diane Lees, director of the V&A Museum of Childhood
• Dr Elizabeth Mackenzie, Vice-Chair, British Association of Friends of Museums
• Joanna Moorhead, journalist and author
• Dan Snow, historian and broadcaster.

The four short-listed museums for the 2006 prize will be announced in April.  The winner will be announced on Thursday 25th May at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London during Museum and Galleries Month 2006.

Six out of the 10 projects have been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), demonstrating how lottery funding is central to transforming the UK’s museums and galleries.

Last year’s winner was Big Pit: National Mining Museum of Wales in Blaenafon, a preserved coal mine where visitors can descend 300 feet underground to experience the working conditions that generations of miners endured daily. The 2004 winner was the landscape sculpture Landform by Charles Jencks at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.  The inaugural prize was awarded to the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law at Nottingham’s Galleries of Justice in 2003 for the education programme it ran with schools, young offenders and the local community.

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 National Art Collections 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 of include representatives of all four founding organisations.
• The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a season of special events throughout 2006 highlighting the work of the Foundation in the UK. The programme includes sole support for the Tate Triennial 2006: New British Art exhibition, an association that marks a long history of collaboration between the Foundation and Tate and draws attention to the UK Branch’s continued support of new and original art-making. There will also be a display at Tate Britain of British works from the Foundation’s Modern Art Collection in Lisbon (one of the largest collections of modern British art outside the UK); the publication of a new book on the history of the Foundation’s UK Branch; and the 2006 Atlantic Waves Festival featuring world-class Portuguese musicians.
• 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. Public funding support has also been provided by The Welsh Assembly Government.
• Additional funding provided by sponsors Blackwall Green (Jewellery and Fine Art) and Consensus Business Group, and by the Gulbenkian Prize Patrons 2006:
• Antenna Audio
• Hanwell Instruments Ltd
• The Arbib Foundation
• Wragge & Co
• Support in kind provided by:
• 24 Hour Museum
• DFJ Vinhos Lda –‘The New Portugal’ UK Office – D & F Wines
• Farrer & Co
• Inn Supplies
  
• The Heritage Lottery Fund has funded six out of the 10 Gulbenkian Award nominees this year with £26.9million going specifically to the element of these projects that have been nominated for this prestigious arts prize. The HLF enables communities to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage. From our great museums and historic buildings to local parks and beauty spots or recording and celebrating traditions, customs and history, HLF grants open up our nation’s heritage for everyone to enjoy. Over the last 11 years, it has supported more than 18,000 projects, allocating over £3.3billion across the UK, £1billion of which has been awarded to museums and galleries.

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