‘Inspiring’ nominees all outside London

The nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year have been announced, with all five finalists being located outside of London for the first time in four years.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is up for the £120,000 prize-winning pot alongside Cardiff’s Chapter and Compton Verney in Warwickshire.

Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery and the Perth Museum in Perth and Kinross round off the shortlist.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 26 June at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, marking the first time the event has ever been held outside of the UK capital.

Art Fund director Jenny Waldman said that this year’s finalists “are inspiring examples of museums at their best” and “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,” she noted, speaking on behalf of the award judges.

Let’s take a closer look at the nominees for this year’s prize, which are all now guaranteed to receive at least £15,000.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham is an open-air museum which reflects life in north east England in the 19th and 20th centuries.

It brings Georgian, Edwardian and war-time history to life through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and volunteers.

Judges praised Beamish for continuing its “long-standing commitment to preserving local heritage” and its “exceptional visitor experience”.

In the past year the museum has completed its Remaking Beamish project, which saw the recreation of a 1950s town developed with community input, as well as the opening of the aged miners’ homes (AMH), which tells the story of welfare provision provided for retired miners.

This year, as part of the National Railway 200 celebrations, it will also host the Festival of Transport (24 May-1 June).

Chapter is an international centre for contemporary arts in Cardiff, which includes a gallery, artists’ studios, theatres and cinema screenings.

In recent years, the centre has commissioned fourteen exhibitions by diverse international artists – including Adham Faramawy, Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye and Abi Palmer – which have explored themes from climate crisis to materiality.

The Arts Fund noted how Chapter “continues to co-create exceptional programmes that enrich Cardiff’s cultural landscape”, from printmaking to music.

It offers “pay what you can” pricing and free community tickets, and also recently introduced an artist residency programme with free studio space, and launched Wales’ largest festival of deaf-led creative activity, Deaf Gathering Cymru.

Compton Verney in Warwickshire has six art collections, a sculpture park and café, set within a Grade I-listed 18th Century mansion.

The gallery was described as “a vibrant cultural destination committed to making art accessible to all by connecting people with art, nature, and creativity”.

Last year, it unveiled its Sculpture in the Park exhibition featuring works by artists such as Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Helen Chadwick and Erika Verzutti.

The venue invites artists and communities to reimagine its 18th Century facade, and its exhibitions have also explored the legacies of the likes of Capability Brown, Louise Bourgeois and Chila Kumari Singh Burman.

More than 6,000 schoolchildren have visited and participated in early creative projects, while recent initiatives have also included a monthly dementia café and an upcoming large-scale multimedia exhibition of work, reflecting on life and death, by Emma Talbot (5 July-5 October).

The jury noted the museum’s commitment to “breaking down barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities.”

Contemporary arts space Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast features two large galleries, a community participation and engagement hub, and Northern Ireland’s first visual art library and archive.

After closing in 2023, the gallery reopened last year at a new Queen Street address in the city centre, presenting exhibitions by artists including Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire Morgan.

Since reopening it has welcomed more than 23,000 visitors.

The gallery partnered with Translink NI to help produce a public sculpture by Kevin Killen incorporating local narratives and community stories at the redeveloped York Street station.

This summer it will host the video and photographic works of Sophie Calle with her exhibition Beyond the Gaze – Shared Perspectives (21 June-27 August).

Perth Museum serves as the new home of the Stone of Destiny, one of Scotland’s most cherished treasures, which has returned to Perthshire after more than 700 years.

The civic museum opened last year following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, by Dutch architects Mecanoo, enabling it to tell the story of Scottish history.

The Stone of Destiny experience uses immersive modern technology to frame the contested object within the story of the medieval boy king of Scotland, Alexander III.

A new exhibition exploring the history and legacy of Macbeth is now underway (25 April-31 August 2025).

The museum has been building partnerships with 10 primary schools, helping students, teachers and communities to connect with their heritage.

Since its opening, Perth Museum has attracted around 250,000 visitors, boosting the local economy.

The Art Fund is the national charity for museums and galleries.

The last time its main prize shortlist totally overlooked London – where many of the nation’s biggest museums were historically located – was in 2021, when the award was ultimately won by Firstsite in Colchester, Essex.

Waldman added she hoped this year’s award would “inspire” people to visit some “remarkable places” in their local region and help them “discover the powerful role they can play in our lives.”

Whichever one of the five museums wins will succeed last year’s winner, the Young V&A in London.