Manchester Museum has been announced as one of five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, the world’s largest museum prize.
Art Fund annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Museum of the Year. The 2024 edition recognises inspiring projects from autumn 2022 through to winter 2023, with audiences and communities at their heart – with a particular focus on community engagement, sustainable ways of working, and demonstration of ambition by reinventing what it means to be ‘the best’ museum for the audiences of today and tomorrow.
The news comes at a good time for Manchester Museum, which recently welcomed its one millionth visitor since reopening to the public in February last year, following a £15 million redevelopment. It was the most visited indoor museum in the north of England during 2023, despite being open for less than 11 months, with 790,332 people walking through the doors during the calendar year.
Manchester Museum Director Esme Ward said: “Manchester Museum’s redevelopment was the result of 10 years’ collective endeavour so being shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year is a moment of joy for everyone to share in, from staff and partners to our communities and Manchester itself. It is affirmation of museums’ power to bring people together in building a more inclusive, hopeful future.”
Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester, is one of the largest university museums in the UK. Over 130 years old, it is home to rich collections spanning natural sciences and human cultures. This includes the award-winning South Asia Gallery, the first permanent gallery in the UK to celebrate the experiences and contribution of the South Asian diaspora, and the Vivarium, responsible for world-leading conservation work and home to a collection of live amphibians and reptiles, many of which are critically endangered.
The other four shortlisted museums are Craven Museum (Skipton, North Yorkshire); Dundee Contemporary Arts (Dundee); National Portrait Gallery (London); Young V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum (London).
The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London on 10 July.