York Art Gallery shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year

Less than a year after reopening following an £8m renovation and the introduction of controversial entrance fees, York Art Gallery has been shortlisted for the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Apr 2016, 00:27 BST
Updated 4th May 2016, 15:11 BST
Janet Barnes, recently retired chief executive of York Museums Trust helped mastermind the renovation at York Art Gallery.Janet Barnes, recently retired chief executive of York Museums Trust helped mastermind the renovation at York Art Gallery.
Janet Barnes, recently retired chief executive of York Museums Trust helped mastermind the renovation at York Art Gallery.

The attraction is in the running alongside the V&A, Bristol’s Arnolfini contemporary art gallery, the Jupiter Artland sculpture collection in Edinburgh and London’s Bethlem Museum of the Mind, which opened in 2015 and is dedicated to mental health.

York Art Gallery reopened last summer boasting 60 per cent more exhibition space, but with limited public funding for the first time it also introduced admission charges. However, since then monthly visitor numbers have risen by almost 5,000 to 25,000.

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The prize judges include curator and art historian Gus Casely-Hayford, BBC arts editor Will Gompertz and director of the Art Fund Stephen Deuchar.

Mr Deuchar said: “Each one of these five museums is outstanding - not just for the collections they display, but for the people who work there, and the visitors whose lives they can change. Whether reaching audiences of thousands or millions, the best museums turn objects into culture, put audiences at the heart of their work, and engage with issues of the moment.”

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park won the £100,000 prize in 2014 and York will find out if it has been successful at ceremony in London on July 6.

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