What winning Museum of the Year means for museums and audiences
Three recent winners of Art Fund Museum of the Year share what winning the world’s largest museum prize has enabled them to do for their visitors – from investing in health and wellbeing programmes to introducing a storyteller-in-residence.
Every year, Art Fund shortlists five outstanding museums for Art Fund Museum of the Year. The prize champions what museums do, encourages more people to visit, and gets to the heart of what makes a truly memorable museum.
On 25 June, we announced the 2026 winner, The Box in Plymouth.
Other recent winners of Art Fund Museum of the Year include Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, in County Durham (2025), Young V&A in London (2024) and The Burrell Collection in Glasgow (2023). We spoke with them about the impact of winning the prize, as we prepare to open applications for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2027 later this year.
Beamish: Investing in health, wellbeing and learning
“We were thrilled and incredibly proud that Beamish, The Living Museum of the North was named Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025,” says Rhiannon Hiles CBE, chief executive of Beamish.
“To receive the world’s largest museum prize was a real honour and a celebration of our people – our fantastic staff, volunteers, communities and supporters. Being part of the awards process was absolutely brilliant; it was a privilege to be shortlisted alongside such wonderful museums from across the country.”
Hiles explains how the prize winnings (£120,000) have helped support Beamish’s work with local communities.
“Being named Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025 brought congratulations from across the world and many new opportunities, highlighting the museum, our people and our work.
“As an anchor institution in the North East, we work closely with partners to celebrate our communities, create opportunity and broaden access, including [across] heritage and culture, health and wellbeing, learning and skills.
“As a charity and independent museum, the prize money allowed us to invest in our health and wellbeing programmes, and in our people, and in widening access to learning, including an access fund for schools.
“For anyone considering applying for Art Fund Museum of the Year in the future, we’d definitely recommend taking part. Thank you again to everyone at Art Fund for making it such an amazing, rewarding and unforgettable experience.”
Young V&A: Developing a new programme for their youngest visitors
For the Young V&A, the prize money has given the team the opportunity to do something they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise: an outreach programme, Creative Start, focusing on their very youngest visitors.
In the past year, Creative Start has enabled the museum to expand its mission along the Thames Gateway, into nurseries and playgroups in Essex, Barking and Dagenham, Kent and Havering.
“[The project] helps us to understand what makes a good museum for [young visitors] as well,” says head of learning and engagement Catherine Ritman-Smith.
“It’s a privilege to see what educators are contending with, what parents are talking about, and how children’s learning begins to extend in familiar spaces, and what we need to understand about that back in the museum.
“It’s a very reciprocal collaboration, where we hope everybody is enriched.”
The Burrell Collection: Furthering their community engagement programmes
The Burrell Collection won Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2023 “because of our commitment to community engagement and our programming strategy, which is designed to support access and inclusion.”
“These priorities were central to our major refurbishment project and continue to be at the heart of The Burrell Collection experience.”
The Burrell’s work following the win encompasses a wide range of community engagement initiatives.
“We have large-scale themed days aimed at encouraging local families into the museum. Our Lunar New Year celebration day is attended annually by between 4,000 and 5,000 people, for whom this date is one of the most important of the year; our Pride day welcomes LGBTQ+ families to a colourful celebration combining crafts, music and performance; and we’ve featured live sword fighting, armour handling and falconry as part of our Medieval Day.
“We’ve also trialled new initiatives including a storyteller-in-residence and have built real trust and collaboration with our community partner organisations and our five local partner schools.
“In addition to being a greatly appreciated honour for The Burrell Collection, our Museum of the Year win has cemented our confidence in the museum’s whole approach and helped us go on to win more accolades and awards.”
Applications for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2027 open in autumn 2026. For more information about the prize, contact Emma Mills on emills@artfund.org or our Programmes team on programmes@artfund.org.