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15/9/02
The UK's largest ever arts prize is announced today.
The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is a £100,000 prize to be awarded annually to one museum or gallery, large or small, in the UK. It will be awarded for the most innovative and inspiring idea - be it an exhibition, new gallery, public programme or important new initiative - developed during 2002. The shortlist will be announced in spring 2003 and the first Gulbenkian Prize will be presented during Museums and Galleries Month in May.
The Gulbenkian Prize is launched at a time when research reveals that more people in the UK visit museums and galleries than go to football matches or pop concerts. Museums and galleries are currently experiencing an unprecedented rise in their popularity with the visiting public. The Gulbenkian Prize will celebrate projects that have a genuine and demonstrable effect on public perceptions of museums and galleries and enhance appreciation of their role.
Lady Cobham, Chairman of the Museum Prize, the trust that runs The Gulbenkian Prize, comments,
"The millions of pounds spent recently on revitalising museums and galleries, making them relevant to the broadening 21st-century audiences, should be celebrated. This is what The Gulbenkian Prize will do for both large and small establishments."
Gauging public enthusiasm for nominated projects will be a key part of the judging process. The prize money is to be invested in a project or activity at the winning museum or gallery that will benefit visitors.
Author and broadcaster Bamber Gascoigne has been appointed chairman of the panel of judges. He comments,
"I am confident that the size of this prize will bring into the arena a wide variety of exciting projects, large and small. And a very important factor is that they will be competing on a level playing field. We shall be judging the results specifically in relation to the resources that were available."
The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation - the grant-giving organisation with a long-term reputation for pioneering innovative projects in the arts, social welfare and education - which has guaranteed the prize money for a five-year period.
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.
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Notes to editors:
• 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.
• Application forms will be sent to all museums and galleries by post. Details of the application procedure are available at www.thegulbenkianprize.org.uk
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