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Notes to editors:
• Details of the 13 longlisted projects, with contact details, are attached.
• Photographs are available. Loyd Grosman and the judges may be available for interview. Please contact Colman Getty.
• The Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the Year 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 National Heritage Museum of the Year) and lend their support to the 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 Museum of the Year 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.
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 Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries and by Sir Christopher Ondaatje CBE, who is passionately interested in raising awareness of the range and quality of museums and galleries in Britain.
Additional sponsors of the 2004 Prize are Blackwall Green
(Jewellery and Fine Art), part of the Heath Lambert Group, Lloyds TSB Private Banking, D& F Wine Shippers, and Keeley & Lowe Ltd, printers.
For further information and press enquiries please contact:
Ruth Cairns, Nicola Dodd or Liz Sich at Colman Getty PR
Telephone: 020 7631 2666 Fax: 020 7631 2699
Email: ruth@colmangettypr.co.uk
Thinktank, Birmingham for its Futures Gallery
An emotional robot that learns human expressions as it interacts with visitors, and a micromachine, only 1 mm across, that has working parts ten times smaller than the width of a human hair are just two of the extraordinary and unique exhibits on show in the Futures Gallery at Thinktank in Birmingham. All the exhibits in the Futures gallery challenge and encourage visitors to think about what the future might possibly be like.
www.thinktank.ac
PR contact: Faye Turner, 0121 202 2264
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Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh for Landform by Charles Jencks
When the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art decided to redevelop
its extensive grounds and reorganise its collection of out-door
sculpture, it turned to architect Charles Jencks with a commission for an extraordinary centrepiece. The result, Landform (based on the concept of chaos theory) is part sculpture, part garden, part land-art, a magical back-drop for everything from exhibition openings to the Gallery's Fun Day for families.
www.nationalgalleries.org
PR contact: Patricia Convery, 0131 624 6325
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The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow for the Sanctuary project
Sanctuary was an ambitious and thought-provoking project, which aimed to engage the power of contemporary art to explore and address issues relating to human rights and the plight of asylum seekers. Developed in partnership with Amnesty International and the Scottish Refugee Council, Sanctuary featured a major exhibition that explored concerns such as forced migration, displacement, torture, oppression, identity and concepts of 'home'.
Internationally acclaimed artists exhibited alongside asylum seeker and refugee artists resident in Britain. The exhibition was complemented by a 13 month programme of unique community workshops as well as a selling show to support Amnesty International.
www.glasgowmuseums.com/sanctuary
PR contact: Paul Kane, 0141 287 5387
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The National Trust at Sutton House, Hackney for Black History Month 2003
Sutton House, owned by the National Trust, is the oldest domestic residence in the East End of London. In October 2003, it was again the only NT venue to hold a series of events to celebrate Black History Month. Its activities included an interactive Black Londoners history mystery trail, storytelling workshops for people aged 55+, a vibrant series of school visits and a collaborative performance by local students of the story of Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse who tended troops in the Crimean War.
www.nationaltrust.org
PR contact: Luke Whitcombe, 01494 528051
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Henry Moore Institute, Leeds for Sculpture in 20th century Britain exhibition
The usual image of modern sculpture is of an artwork in the gallery, whether on or off the plinth. But ‘Other Criteria’ presents a host of different ways of seeing sculpture, from everyday ephemera to the specialist souvenir. A unique exhibition that throws light on the practice of sculpture in Britain over the last 100 years, it uses a broad selection of material to reconsider the conventional category of 20th century British sculpture, and to propose other ways of telling the story.
www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/hmi
PR contact: Mary Minshull, 0113 246 7467
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The Royal Armouries, Leeds for The Knight is Young exhibition
The Knight is Young is an exhibition about children, for children. It presents a fascinating collection of weapons and armour made for children from the 15th to the end of the 19th centuries, and is intended to stimulate people to think about the nature of childhood throughout different periods of history. The concept of ‘play’ is one that fascinates both adults and children alike.
www.armouries.org.uk
PR contact: Debbie Jones, 0113 220 1860
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National Gallery, London for Titian and Titian After Dark
The National Gallery’s Titian exhibition was one of the highlights of 2003. Over forty works by Titian were assembled, a negotiation that took five years, to be shown alongside the National Gallery’s own magnificent collection of eleven paintings. Alongside the exhibition were education projects, multi-media presentations, a Titian website and “Titian After Dark” – a series of late night openings with films, music and talks every Thursday. The result: some of the highest number of visitors for an exhibition at the National Gallery.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
PR contact: Neil Evans, 020 7747 2519
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Prescot Museum, Merseyside for Creating History
The aim of the Creating History project is to bring history to life, through collections, oral reminiscence, drama and video. The main school involved is located in a deprived area, situated near to the BICC factory site, once the main employer in the town. The factory has a long and fascinating history and many ex workers still live in Prescot today. The topic inspired the children to explore and interpret local history, bringing in national curriculum themes, and also giving then a real sense of their own heritage and citizenship.
www.knowsley.gov.uk/leisure/museum
PR contact: Sue Hughes, 0151 430 7787
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The Museum of Antiquities, University of Newcastle for Reticulum
Reticulum [Latin for 'net'] is a completely new way of a museum engaging local children's interest in the past. Antiquities' staff work with partner schools in Northumberland, in both the Museum and the classroom, to give children the opportunity to handle artefacts and explore historical themes and ideas. In between school sessions and museum visits, the children use e-mail to consult the Museum's Archaeology staff and to work with other schools in the region. Through grants the Museum even subsidises the children's transport to and from the Museum!
museums.ncl.ac.uk/reticulum
PR contact: Melanie Reed, 0191 222 5791
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Pembrokeshire Museum Service for Varda: a travelling exhibition of Romany history and culture
Pembrokeshire Museums Service worked with local Romany Gypsy communities to create travelling exhibition of Romany history and culture. The traditional horse-drawn wooden wagon, a varda in Romani language, became the focus of a mobile exhibition that has travelled to a number of sites around Pembrokeshire and also been on public display in the County Museum at Scolton Manor.
www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk
PR Contact: Liz McIvor, 01437 731328
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Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham for its Heritage Education Project
Through its focus on the learning needs of local people, Clifton Park Museum used innovative and motivating ways of attracting those with basic skills through heritage activities. This is the first museum project to be funded by the Basic Skills Agency. Museum workshops were held for adults on a variety of subjects, encouraging them to practice basic skills and take up an interest in local history, whilst improving their literacy and numeracy.
www.rotherham.gov.uk
PR Contact: Guy Kilminster, 01709 823623
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Norton Priory Museum, Runcorn, Cheshire for Positive Partnerships
For the past 10 years, Norton Priory Museum Trust has enjoyed a special working partnership with Astmoor Day Services, a day centre run by Halton Borough Council, for adults with a learning disability. Over the past 12 months, this partnership has been lifted to a new level in the Positive Partnerships project, which includes the BBC 2 "Hidden Gardens" Medieval Herb Garden project. The result of this special partnership is that it has helped to change the public's perception of adults with a learning disability for the better.
www.nortonpriory.org
PR Contact: Steve Miller, 01928 569 895
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Tyne & Wear Museums, Segedunum, Wallsend for Pontis
Pontis captured the public's imagination both locally and nationally. Tyne & Wear Museums collaborated with North Tyneside Arts and Nexus, the body that runs the Tyne & Wear Metro system, who had jointly commissioned artist Michael Pinsky to create a permanent contemporary art project linking Wallsend Metro Station with nearby Segedunum, the Roman fort at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. This witty and engaging project included installations at the Metro station, Latin and English signs (Noli Fumare - No Smoking); even the local job centre was re-named Forum Venalicium (slave market)!
www.twmuseums.org.uk
PR Contact: Ian McGregor, 0191 277 2167
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