Art Fund Prize judges announced
Sharon Heal, 07.11.2011
Former culture minister Chris Smith to chair 2012 prize
Chris Smith is to chair the judging panel of the Art Fund prize for museums and galleries 2012.
The former culture secretary and architect of free entry for national museums will chair the prize in its 10th anniversary year.
Smith said he was delighted to have been asked to chair the prize: “Museums and galleries have come a long way in the last decade and with the jury I look forward to the challenge of selecting venues that have recently made a truly important contribution to the cultural life of the UK."
The annual prize awards £100,000 to a museum or gallery that demonstrates excellence, originality and imagination for a project the previous year.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: "The ideal chair of the prize is a respected and articulate public figure who is additionally recognised by the museum world as being knowledgeable on and committed to the arts. Chris Smith ticks both of those boxes."
The other judges are: professor Jim Al-Khalili, theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster; Charlotte Higgins, Guardian journalist and author; Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces; Mark Jones, master at St Cross College, Oxford and former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; architect Rick Mather; and artist and head of graduate painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, Lisa Milroy.
Applications for the prize are open until 1 December. The longlist will be announced in February next year. The shortlist will to be announced in May with the final winner revealed at a ceremony on 19 June.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said it had been a strong year for museums and galleries: “The Art Fund Prize is not just about excellence; it’s about creativity and originality too.”
The Clore Award for Museum Learning, which runs alongside the main prize, will be co-chaired by philanthropist Vivien Duffield and the executive director of the Clore Duffield Foundation, Sally Bacon.
The £10,000 award recognises achievements in learning programmes that develop the skills, knowledge, values and enjoyment of the participants.
This year it has a focus on work with children and young people. The other judges for the award are: Sharon Heal, editor of Museums Journal; Gerard Kelly, editor of the Times Educational Supplement; and Mick Waters, professor of education at the University of Wolverhampton.
The former culture secretary and architect of free entry for national museums will chair the prize in its 10th anniversary year.
Smith said he was delighted to have been asked to chair the prize: “Museums and galleries have come a long way in the last decade and with the jury I look forward to the challenge of selecting venues that have recently made a truly important contribution to the cultural life of the UK."
The annual prize awards £100,000 to a museum or gallery that demonstrates excellence, originality and imagination for a project the previous year.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: "The ideal chair of the prize is a respected and articulate public figure who is additionally recognised by the museum world as being knowledgeable on and committed to the arts. Chris Smith ticks both of those boxes."
The other judges are: professor Jim Al-Khalili, theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster; Charlotte Higgins, Guardian journalist and author; Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces; Mark Jones, master at St Cross College, Oxford and former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; architect Rick Mather; and artist and head of graduate painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, Lisa Milroy.
Applications for the prize are open until 1 December. The longlist will be announced in February next year. The shortlist will to be announced in May with the final winner revealed at a ceremony on 19 June.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said it had been a strong year for museums and galleries: “The Art Fund Prize is not just about excellence; it’s about creativity and originality too.”
The Clore Award for Museum Learning, which runs alongside the main prize, will be co-chaired by philanthropist Vivien Duffield and the executive director of the Clore Duffield Foundation, Sally Bacon.
The £10,000 award recognises achievements in learning programmes that develop the skills, knowledge, values and enjoyment of the participants.
This year it has a focus on work with children and young people. The other judges for the award are: Sharon Heal, editor of Museums Journal; Gerard Kelly, editor of the Times Educational Supplement; and Mick Waters, professor of education at the University of Wolverhampton.
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