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Notes to editors:
• Details of the twelve longlisted projects, with contact details, are attached.
• Bamber Gascoigne and the judges may be available for interview. Please contact Colman Getty PR with requests.
• The Imperial War Museum has withdrawn its newest branch, Imperial War Museum North, from the Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries this year. The Museum had been longlisted but felt unable to remain in the competition because its application for registration under the scheme administered by Re:source will not be completed before 2004.
• The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is open to all registered museums and galleries in the UK. Applicants must have opened, redeveloped, or launched a new project or innovative programme of activity that has come to fruition in the calendar year to 31 December 2002. All projects must show lasting value and complement existing activities and facilities and applicants must be able to show public support and enthusiasm for the project.
• The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is administered by the Museum Prize, a charitable company created in 2001 by representatives of National Heritage, the Museums Association, the National Art Collections Fund and the Campaign for Museums. These organisations have agreed to put aside award schemes they formerly ran (including the Museum of the Year) and lend their support to this new prize.
The Museum Prize is chaired by Lady Cobham. Trustees of the Museum Prize include representatives of all four founding organisations.
• The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is responsible for grant aid in the UK and Republic of Ireland and runs funding programmes in arts, social welfare, education and Anglo-Portuguese cultural relations. Its publications in these areas are well regarded.
The Foundation's founder, Calouste Gulbenkian, was one of the most distinguished private collectors in the world. The Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon is well-known and loaned several major pieces of Lalique jewellery to the V & A's highly acclaimed Art Nouveau exhibition in 2000 and simultaneously mounted a major exhibition of its treasures at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is supporting The Gulbenkian Prize by guaranteeing prize money of £100,000 a year for the next five years; it is also providing some of the funding for administration.
The Gulbenkian Prize is also supported by DCMS, Re:source and Christopher Ondaatje CBE, who is passionately interested in raising awareness of the range and quality of museums and galleries in Britain.
For further information and press enquiries please contact:
Liz Sich, Ruth Cairns or Julia Muir at Colman Getty PR
Middlesex House
32-44 Cleveland Street
London W1T 4JE
Telephone 020 7631 2666
Fax 020 7631 2699
liz@colmangettypr.co.uk
Banbury Museum and Tooley's Boatyard Project, Banbury, Oxfordshire
The long-awaited redevelopment of the town centre and the advent of the national Lottery provided an opportunity to create a new museum for Banbury. Imaginatively redeveloped, the new museum and boatyard opened on 21st September 2002.
The historic Tooley's Boatyard, built at the same time as the Oxford Canal in the late 1700s and a key part of the town's history, has been incorporated into the new museum site. Now a working boatyard, regular guided tours will be available from the Spring.
The Waterways Gallery is a glass bridge spanning the Oxford Canal and Tooley's Boatyard. This dramatic structure links the Museum's entrance to the galleries across the canal. It is a significant architectural landmark that has a direct relationship to the features that are interpreted in the gallery.
The Discoveries and Treasures Galleries tell the stories that have made Banbury famous: the Civil War; the plush cloth industry; the market town, and wartime Banbury. The clean modern object-rich displays are supported by low-tech tactile interactives designed with family groups in mind.
The Exhibitions Gallery hosts national and local touring exhibitions, ensuring that there is always something new to see.
Contact: Simon Townsend on 01295 672626
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The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery Redevelopment
The redeveloped Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, which reopened on 4 May 2002, was part of a city-centre regeneration scheme aiming to create a major arts and culture centre around the Grade 1 Listed Royal Pavilion Estate.
Brighton holds many collections of national/international importance, but key to the redisplay strategy was to create within the new galleries 'a sense of place' - open, fun, contemporary, alternative and visually exciting, reflecting the unique character and history of the city of Brighton. The past - the rich collections of cultural artefacts - now engage with the city's different cultures and communities. Local groups and enthusiasts were involved in the redisplays; a Hindu shrine in the World Art Gallery was redisplayed in collaboration with the local Hindu community.
New displays, such as the Performance, Body and Fashion and Style galleries, link to form a sequence of related themes. The Performance Gallery, for example, hosts objects from Les Ballets 33 that are juxtaposed with costumes and puppets from Asia and Africa alongside contemporary sculpture by Sokari Douglas Camp, Brighton street festival art and the traditional Punch and Judy.
Contact: Cara Bowen on 01273 292810
www.virtualmuseum.info/brighton
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Cast Iron Sculpture Workshops, The Ironbridge Open Air Museum of Steel Sculpture, Telford, Shropshire
Set amongst the magnificent environs of the Museum's parklands, the Cast Iron Sculpture Workshops, run by a team of ten volunteers including a six-man Furnace Crew, have enabled hundreds of local schoolchildren to watch the entire iron casting process and to create their own individually-designed tiles.
Until the advent of the Cast Iron Sculpture Workshops, the Museum's Collection focussed entirely upon the acquisition of steel sculptures. Now a delightful wooded dell is being landscaped to house a collection of iron sculptures produced by practising sculptors during the workshops. Workshop visits from sculptors from all over the world are scheduled to coincide with school groups so that pupils can directly observe and interact with professionals at work.
One of the highlights of 2002 has been the casting of an iron column by pupils from three local schools to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. The column, bearing depictions representing all of the Commonwealth countries, is now sited permanently in Telford's Town Park and reflects the regional tradition of commemorating special events. Ornamental cast iron lamp-posts were produced by the world famous Coalbrookdale Company to acknowledge Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
Contact: Michael Diamond on 0121 355 3503/ Pam Brown on 01952 433152
www.go2.co.uk/steelsculpture
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Collections, Communities and Memories - making Rotherham's Heritage accessible, Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham
Conscious that the museum's social history collections did not reflect all areas of the Borough equally, Clifton Park Museum's project was designed to tap into the massive interest in local and family history within the borough of Rotherham.
A Community Curator was appointed to work throughout Rotherham to encourage local people to become involved as voluntary Community Curators. The Community Curator offered free training and loans of display cases, boards and recording equipment to anyone interested in learning the skills to produce their own exhibitions and oral history archives. Ongoing training, advice and practical help are still on offer.
Following the training, a number of community exhibitions grew out of the project. Harthill Village Hall was hired for a weekend in April 2002 for an exhibition by the Harthill Memories Society. So successful did it prove that it was accompanied by a school drama workshop about evacuees in the village during World War II and later led to another community photographic exhibition. The village now plans to create its own digitised community archive.
Contact: Ceryl Evans on 01709 823635
www.rotherham.gov.uk
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The Darwin Centre Phase One, Natural History Museum, London
The Darwin Centre Phase One at the Natural History Museum, which opened on 30 September 2002, represents an innovative new approach to science communication.
By providing an informal forum for scientists and visitors to meet face-to-face or through live webcasts, the Centre aims to break down the barriers between scientists and the public. At the same time, it aims to protect and facilitate access to the Natural History Museum's unique collection of 22 million zoological specimens and to provide an environment in which the Museum's scientific researchers can flourish across a diverse range of disciplines.
The programme of 'behind the scenes' tours - Darwin Centre Explore - take the public into the zoological collections, transforming otherwise inaccessible spaces into areas of public discovery and inspiration. An imaginative programme of public debates, Darwin Centre Live, led by Museum scientists, embraces themes of contemporary relevance such as the environmental effects of oil tanker disasters or the conservation of Britain's flora and fauna. Live webcasts from the Centre and video links to research and collections areas around the Museum provide even greater access for the public.
Contact: Rachel Craddock on 020 7942 5881
www.nhm.ac.uk/darwincentre
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The Downland Gridshell, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Chichester, Sussex
The Downland Gridshell grew out of the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum's need to bring together its artefact collection and to continue to conserve and restore historic buildings and to find a way to open up both to visitors.
Since it first opened in 1970, the Museum's artefacts' collection had grown to 10,000 items and outgrown its storage, which was off-site, inaccessible and not environmentally controlled. Likewise, the Museum's conservation programme also took place off site.
Key amongst the Museum's aims for this, the UK's first permanent timber gridshell building, was the desire to create an exceptional space, to use both benign and sustainable materials, to ensure access for all and to create an environment that would be as flexible as possible.
Since it opened in June 2002, the building conservation workshop for timber framing, conservation of large objects and training courses, basement artefact store and conservation studio are in full use and there are daily guided tours of the entire building.
Contact: Richard Harris or Gail Kittle on 01243 811363
www.wealddown.co.uk
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Family Falmouth, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall
Three generations - grandparents, parents and children - from three families all brought up in Falmouth were asked to select, interpret and produce artwork for The Family Falmouth temporary exhibition. The different generations worked as a team alongside high regarded professional artists, Gareth Edwards and Rachael Reeves, to provide an artistic response to life in Falmouth. The families selected favourite works from the collections at Falmouth Art Gallery and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and their work was displayed alongside the paintings and sculpture chosen from the two collections.
From this small beginning, the Family Falmouth Project expanded beyond all expectations in a county that is officially the poorest in England. The project inspired visits from a large number of families and organisations ranging from Surestart to Age Concern. Target groups involved non-gallery or museum users; well over sixteen thousand people visited the exhibition with over 900 educational visits.
The Family Falmouth Project began with selection on 17 November 2001 with most of the workshops and educational visits occurring in January and February 2003. It proved so popular that it was extended until May 11th 2002.
Contact: Brian Stewart on 01326 313863
www.falmouthartgallery.com
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The Reopening of Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery reopened in May 2002 following a four-year programme of expansion and refurbishment. The project has created a spacious, light and modern building resulting in a truly accessible 21st- century art gallery in the heart of Manchester. Now with twice as much display space, many works from the gallery's outstanding collection can be shown for the first time and in thought-provoking new themes.
On each floor there is a special interest gallery, developed by leading British designers, which introduces the visitor to particular aspects of the collection.
The Clore Interactive Gallery and Clore Drawing Space provide lively new spaces for children and their families, combining real artworks and exciting hands-on activities. The CIS Manchester Gallery celebrates the creative achievements of the city and the Gallery of Craft and Design, in a stunning architectural setting, showcases an internationally renowned collection of decorative art ranging from ancient Greek pottery to contemporary furniture.
Contact: Kim Gowland 0161 235 8861
www.manchestergalleries.org
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The National Centre for Citizenship and the Law, The Galleries of Justice, Nottingham
The Galleries of Justice are located in a Grade 2* listed building complete with two authentic Victorian courtrooms, an 18th century prison with medieval cave system and an Edwardian police station.
In creating the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL), the Galleries effectively doubled the size of their education programme that focuses on citizenship and personal responsibility. NCCL runs at least ten projects at any time and works with over 12,000 pupils and 500 young people in the community each year.
NCCL has also created a lively educational area called the Citizens' Zone incorporating the Activity Point for artefact handling, drama, craft and art work; a civil and youth court for debates, interactive mock trials, fitted with live video recording and an editing suite; a Protest Point, with resources to stimulate debate; a Community Gallery for the local community to design its own public exhibitions; a teacher resource centre; online resources, a café and Communication Point with a suite of 6 computers. They have also fitted the original Civil Court with live video recording.
Contact: Peter Armstrong, Chief Executive, 0115 952 0555
www.galleriesofjustice.org.uk
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The opening of the New Hackney Museum, London
The new Hackney Museum opened in April 2002 with new permanent displays focussing on migration and settlement.
Hackney is one of the most culturally diverse areas in Europe; today, more than 90 languages are spoken in the Borough and it is the second most economically deprived area in the UK. The challenge was to create a local history museum both relevant to and reflective of Hackney and its people.
One of the strengths of the project is the degree to which local people have been involved in the research and development of the displays. Oral history interviews were conducted by and with local people; groups of volunteers from a wide range of Hackney communities were commissioned to collect artefacts for display; and children from a local school produced powerful and moving sculptures illustrating why their family lives in Hackney. This kind of participation continues to shape the museum's development. The museum has used a thematic approach, with separate areas of the museum exploring the different reasons people chose to settle in Hackney over the last 1000 years.
Public response to the new museum has been enthusiastic with the museum on target to attract double its annual target already.
Contact: Laura Williams, Acting Director, 020 8356 2551
www.hackney.gov.uk/hackneymuseum
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RRS Discovery Renewal Programme, Discovery Point, Dundee
The four-year renewal programme at Discovery Point, focussing on Captain Scott's ship, the RRS Discovery, was completed in March 2002.
The museum wanted to make the collections and the historic images of Discovery's own story as well as those of Scott's and his team's heroic journeys more accessible and interactive. Two new galleries were created: the Men of Discovery gallery tells the story of Discovery's great sail south from Dundee, the crew and their daily lives in Antarctica. The Heroes of the Ice gallery recounts the story of Scott and the crew after the 1901-1004 expedition, including the fateful Terra Nova expedition.
Restoration of the ship has continued with public access to her bridge available for the first time and the re-laying of some 800 ft of teak decking, continuing the never-ending quest to keep rainwater out of the ship.
Alongside the Discovery, the Quayside now has interactive exhibits designed to test seamanship skills. A virtual film tour of Discovery is available to visitors with mobility problems who cannot get below decks.
Contact: Gill Poulter on 01382 225282
www.rrsdiscovery.com
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