Meet the museums shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025
Five museums have been selected as finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, the world’s largest museum prize.
The five museums shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025 are:
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North (County Durham) – the open-air museum which offers a window into life in North East England in the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s.
Chapter (Cardiff) – one of Wales’s leading arts centres rooted in the heart of Cardiff and comprising a gallery, artists’ studios, theatres, cinemas, a café bar and community garden.
Compton Verney (Warwickshire) – an art gallery with six world-class art collections, a sculpture park and café set within a Grade I-listed 18th-century mansion and 120 acres of Capability Brown parkland.
Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast) – Northern Ireland’s leading contemporary art gallery featuring two large galleries, a community participation and engagement hub, and the country’s first visual art library and archive. Golden Thread Gallery reopened in a new venue in Belfast city centre in August 2024.
Perth Museum (Perth & Kinross) – home of the Stone of Destiny, Perth Museum opened in March 2024 following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, telling the story of over 10,000 years of Scottish and world history through a local lens.
The winner of the £120,000 prize will be announced on 26 June, at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool. Each of the four other finalists will receive £15,000, bringing the total prize money to £180,000.
Inspiring projects and people
Art Fund annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Art Fund Museum of the Year. The 2025 edition of the prize recognises inspiring projects and activity from autumn 2023 through to winter 2024.
As well as 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.
The judges for 2025
The 2025 judging panel, chaired by Art Fund’s 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 will visit each of the finalists to inform their decision-making, while each museum will make the most of being shortlisted over the summer through events and activities for new and current visitors.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, Waldman said:
“This year’s finalists are inspiring examples of museums at their best – deeply connected to their local communities, responsive to the world around them, and alive with energy and ideas. Each one offers a distinctive experience, showing the endless creativity and care that goes into making museums inspiring and exciting spaces for everyone.
“Art Fund is proud to celebrate their work and support their ambition through Art Fund Museum of the Year. We hope people across the UK will be inspired to visit these remarkable places and museums in their local area to discover the powerful role they can play in our lives.”
The prize is funded thanks to the generosity of Art Fund’s members who buy a National Art Pass. Art Pass holders enjoy discounts and benefits at the shortlisted museums and hundreds more across the UK.
Find out more at artfund.org/museum-of-the-year.