Art Fund, the UK’s national charity for museums and galleries, has revealed the five finalists for the 2025 edition of Art Fund Museum of the Year – the world’s most prestigious museum prize. For over a century, Art Fund has supported institutions in acquiring works of art, growing audiences, and nurturing talent, all while advocating for the cultural sector’s vital role in society. The organisation, supported by over 140,000 members and centred around the National Art Pass, continues to be a lifeline for cultural innovation.
Established in 2013, Art Fund Museum of the Year traces its roots to a lineage of museum prizes dating back to the 1970s. Evolving from the Gulbenkian Museum Prize and later the Art Fund Prize, the award has grown into a benchmark of curatorial and institutional excellence. It celebrates the transformative power of museums in public life and recognises bold ideas, imaginative programming, and meaningful community engagement. Offering a top prize of £120,000, it stands as the most substantial monetary award in the global cultural sector—affirming institutional vision and expanding reach.
The 2025 shortlist highlights a vibrant and diverse array of museums across the UK. Each finalist, from the industrial heartlands of the North East to the cultural centres of Belfast and Cardiff, exemplifies what a modern museum can be: inclusive, rooted in community, forward-thinking, and deeply resonant.
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham, invites visitors on an immersive journey through time. Costumed interpreters and reconstructed townscapes vividly bring to life eras from the 1820s to the 1950s. The museum recently unveiled its 1950s Town—an ambitious expansion shaped through collaboration with more than 30,000 community participants. This living history initiative reflects Beamish’s dedication to public co-creation and education, engaging over 40,000 schoolchildren each year. Visitor numbers exceeded 838,000 in 2024, reinforcing its status as the region’s most visited museum and a vital custodian of working-class stories and industrial heritage.
Chapter, in the heart of Cardiff, serves as a cultural agora and a thriving centre for art, cinema, performance, and civic life. A commitment to equity, inclusivity, and creative freedom defines its programming. Between autumn 2023 and winter 2024, fourteen exhibitions explored themes of social engagement and ecological urgency. The recent Deaf Gathering Cymru brought together D/deaf communities in a landmark celebration of D/deaf-led creativity. A “Pay What You Can” model has removed financial barriers, welcoming thousands of new visitors. Over half a million people attended Chapter over the past year, with its offerings ranging from contemporary film and printmaking to live music. The centre demonstrates how local arts institutions can become powerful engines of transformation and expression.
Compton Verney in Warwickshire reimagines the country house museum, set within the sweeping landscape of a Capability Brown park. A dedication to inclusivity and innovation animates its diverse exhibitions, including shows on conceptual artist Sarah Lucas and a landmark retrospective of Chila Kumari Singh Burman. In 2024, a major new commission by Erika Verzutti debuted alongside the acclaimed Sculpture in the Park programme. Visitor numbers exceeded 117,000, and education initiatives prioritise young people and neurodiverse audiences. The museum offers a compelling example of a place-rooted yet globally attuned institution. This summer, an immersive multimedia exhibition by Emma Talbot will deepen the dialogue, exploring themes of life’s fragility and wonder.
Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast has entered a new chapter marked by transformation and renewal. Its 2024 relocation to a new city-centre site enabled the gallery to welcome over 23,000 visitors in just six months. Two exhibition spaces, an engagement hub, and Northern Ireland’s first visual art archive anchor the gallery’s expanded capacity. The exhibition programme – featuring artists such as Susan Hiller, Claire Morgan, and Sophie Calle – fosters intergenerational conversation. A recent community sculpture project with Translink NI illustrates the gallery’s collaborative ethos, telling the stories that shape modern Belfast.
Perth Museum has emerged as a dynamic force following a £27 million redevelopment. The museum, housed in the restored Perth City Hall, reopened in March 2024 as the permanent home of the Stone of Destiny—an artefact integral to Scottish identity. Innovative exhibition design, rooted in historical scholarship and immersive technology, reframes national memory through a local lens. Early programming has explored Shakespearean legend and medieval Scotland, attracting more than 250,000 visitors within months. Partnerships with local schools foster intergenerational engagement, while the architectural renewal has revitalised Perth’s civic heart and garnered critical acclaim.
The judging panel for 2025 is chaired by Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman and includes artist Rana Begum, Tate’s Dr David Dibosa, Amgueddfa Cymru’s Jane Richardson, and comedian Phil Wang. Each judge offers a unique perspective- from curatorial leadership to public engagement and artistic innovation – tasked with selecting a museum that defines the future of the sector through its recent work. The winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025 will be announced on 26 June, in a ceremony held for the first time outside London, at the Museum of Liverpool. This new location reflects a broader decentralisation in the cultural landscape and affirms the role of museums as civic anchors across the UK.
Nurturing young artists in Cardiff, rekindling industrial memory in Durham, and reshaping national narratives in Perth—each shortlisted museum demonstrates a bold vision for what museums can be. These institutions go beyond preserving the past; they shape the future through art, education, dialogue and care. The winner is yet to be revealed. What is already evident is the extraordinary vitality and purpose driving the UK’s cultural institutions today.
Words: Anna Müller
Image Credits:
1&5. Golden Thread Gallery, Museum of the Year Finalist, 2025. © David Levene / Art Fund 2025. Artwork: ‘Stay A While’ © Stuart Calvin 2025.
2. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, Museum of the Year Finalist, 2025. © David Levene / Art Fund 2025.
3. Chapter, Museum of the Year Finalist, 2025. © David Levene / Art Fund 2025.
4. Compton Verney, Museum of the Year Finalist, 2025. © David Levene / Art Fund 2025.
6. Perth Museum. © Greg Holmes.
