Beamish, The Living Museum of the North wins Art Fund Museum of the Year

Rhiannon Hiles, Chief Executive of Beamish, was presented with the £120,000 prize – the largest museum prize in the world – by Phil Wang, comedian and a judge for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, is a renowned open-air museum in County Durham that brings North East England's Georgian, Edwardian, 1940s and 1950s history to life through immersive exhibits. Visitors engage with costumed staff and volunteers and experience regional stories of everyday life. As Beamish celebrates its 55-year anniversary, the museum continues its longstanding commitment to preserving local heritage.

Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year, said:

“Beamish is a museum brought to life by people – a joyous, immersive and unique place shaped by the stories and experiences of its community. The judges were blown away by the remarkable attention to detail of its exhibits across a 350 acre site and by the passion of its staff and volunteers.

“With three quarters of adults in the North East of England saying museums make them proud of where they live, Beamish is a shining example of how museums enrich and celebrate local communities. Warmest congratulations to Beamish on winning Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025. You have been a jewel in the crown of the North East for 55 years and I’m sure you’ll continue to delight visitors for many more to come.”

Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said:

“Congratulations to Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, on being named Museum of the Year 2025.

“This award recognises the extraordinary contribution that Beamish has made to celebrate the heritage of the North East and to showcase this to the world through thousands of visitors every year.

“I would also like to congratulate the shortlisted museums and thank the dedicated staff and volunteers who support our museums all year round and help us to tell our national story across the country.”

Phil Wang, comedian, judge and presenter for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, said:

“Beamish is a worthy winner of this year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year award. Our visit was one of the most fun days I’ve had in years. An unbelievable level of commitment from staff, and a jaw-dropping amount of detail ran through everything. They had to drag me kicking and screaming out of there!”

In the past year Beamish has completed its Remaking Beamish project, which saw the recreation of a 1950s Town developed with community input from people with firsthand knowledge of the original spaces. The project involved over 32,000 community members, 14,338 schoolchildren, and 35,000 volunteer hours to create 31 new exhibits within the museum. The year also saw the opening of the aged miners’ homes (AMH), which tell the story of the pioneering welfare provision for retired miners in County Durham.

The museum has been commended for its exceptional visitor experience, receiving both the Travellers' Choice Award and the national Visitor Welcome Award at the 2024 Museums + Heritage Awards. The museum provides innovative educational programming for 40,000 schoolchildren annually, using its collections and spaces to inspire learning across disciplines from local history to science and engineering. In 2024, the museum welcomed over 838,630 visitors, and remains the region’s most visited attraction.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North was one of five finalists. The other shortlisted museums, all highly commended by the judges, are: Chapter (Cardiff), Compton Verney (Warwickshire), Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast), Perth Museum (Perth & Kinross).

Each finalist will receive £15,000. Together with £120,000 received by the winning museum, the total prize money for Art Fund Museum of the Year is £180,000.

The 2025 judging panel, chaired by Art Fund director Jenny Waldman, includes: Rana Begum (artist), Dr David Dibosa (Director of Research and Interpretation, Tate), Jane Richardson (Chief Executive, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales) and Phil Wang (comedian, writer, actor). The judges visited each of the finalists to inform their decision-making.

The prize is funded thanks to the generosity of Art Fund’s members who buy a National Art Pass.  Pass holders enjoy discounts and benefits at the finalist museums and hundreds more across the UK, whilst also supporting Art Fund’s vital work as the UK’s charity supporting museums and galleries.

Art Fund annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Museum of the Year. The 2025 edition recognises inspiring projects and activity from autumn 2023 through to winter 2024. In addition to looking at the overall achievements of the organisation, the judges are tasked with identifying impactful projects that spotlight the wide range of remarkable people, including museum staff and volunteers, who bring museums to life by engaging with communities, families and younger visitors, artists and creatives.

All five of this year’s shortlisted museums are deeply connected with their local communities and contribute to making their local areas inspiring places to live and visit. The prize not only celebrates the shortlist but shines a light on all museums and galleries across the UK, aiming to inspire people to visit those close to them.

Find out more about Art Fund Museum of the Year and explore the winner and finalists.