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M Shed – the museum for Bristol which opened last year – has been nominated for the Art Fund Prize 2012, the UK’s museum of the year award.
The prize, the biggest for arts and cultural organisations in the country, rewards excellence and innovation for a project completed or undertaken in the previous year.
M Shed, which cost £27m to develop, has attracted more than 440,000 visitors since opening last June.
It is one of 10 museums across the UK on the longlist for the £100,000 prize, and one of four to open in the past 12 months.
Head of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives Julie Finch said she was delighted at the nomination, adding: “This is a further boost to all those that have worked so hard to make M Shed a success.”
A shortlist of four museums will be announced on May 14 with the £100,000 cash prize awarded to the winner at a ceremony at the British Museum on June 19. The prize has been awarded since 2003.
Chairman of The Museum Prize Trust Penelope, Viscountess Cobham, said: “It is testament to the extraordinary work that is happening around the country in museums and galleries that the 2012 Art Fund Prize longlist showcases excellence, innovation and audience engagement at all levels.”
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, added: “This year’s Art Fund Prize longlist truly reveals the creativity and ambition of museums and galleries beyond London.”
The longlist was chosen by a panel of experts chaired by Lord Smith of Finsbury, former Labour MP and
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The other judges are Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE, theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster; Charlotte Higgins, Guardian journalist and author; Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, author and broadcaster; Sir Mark Jones, Master at St Cross College, Oxford and former V&A director; Rick Mather, architect; and Lisa Milroy, artist and head of graduate painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL.
Among the museums M Shed is competing against are Bath’s Holburne Museum and the newly-opened Turner Contemporary in Margate.
