INTERVIEW: Art Fund Director
Jenny Waldman chats 10 years of Art Fund Museum of the Year
“We have brilliant museums and galleries across the UK… As a country we should cherish and support them.”
The Hot List
maxwell museums’ curated round up of what’s new to see, do, watch, read and more, From the UK — and around the world.
ROYAL RESIDENCE
🔗 Buckingham Palace State Rooms Summer Opening
London
Buckingham Palace’s magnificent State Rooms will welcome the public again this week for their annual summer opening — the first time it’s happened with a new monarch in residence. Visitors can also enjoy a new display showing the magnificent outfits worn by TM King Charles III and Queen Camilla during their Coronation, including the garments worn on the Palace balcony to greet the crowds. From Friday.
OPEN WEEKEND
🔗 Eel Pie Island
London
It’s a mysterious private island on the Thames in West London. Usually it’s out of bounds, but for the next two weekends, it’ll lower the (metaphorical) drawbridge and welcome the public. Alongside a nature reserve, visitors can explore the island’s 26 working artists studios, talk to the artists, and purchase or commission new works. 15, 16, 22, 23 July. 11am—6pm. Free.
TALK
🔗 Burberry – Two Centuries of Innovation and Design
V&A
Fashion is taking over Britain’s museums this year, and while not getting an exhibition (yet), Burberry’s history will be examined in a special talk at the V&A. From polar expeditions to London catwalks, pop culture moments to the eternal trench-coat, this discussion unpacks the meaning of Burberry past, present and future. An online viewing option is available for those who can’t make it to Kensington. Monday 17 July.
EXHIBITION
🔗 Michael Armitage: Pathos and the Twilight of the Idle
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
The first comprehensive presentation of the celebrated British painter’s work in Austria examines Armitage's practice to date, where over the past decade, he has gained recognition as one of the most technically considered artists of his generation. The show is accompanied by Armitage’s work appearing on billboards across the city. Opens Saturday 15 July.
The Big Interview
Tonight, Sir Grayson Perry will announce — under the glass roof of the British Museum’s Great Court — the winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023. It’ll mark the tenth occasion that the world’s biggest museum prize has been awarded by the UK’s national charity for art, and one lucky museum will walk away with a cool £120,000 and the prestigious title.
The four runners-up don’t leave empty handed. They bag £15,000 plus the warm glow of publicity that being on the shortlist affords. This year’s runners and riders are: Scapa Flow, a small, remote museum in Orkney, telling the story of the British naval fleet which was once housed there; Glasgow’s re-opened Burrell Collection, which has enjoyed a £68.25m refurbishment; the Natural History Museum, the UK’s most visited museum; Belfast’s The MAC, Northern Ireland’s leading arts centre; and West London’s Leighton House, once the opulent home of painter Frederic Leighton which also has enjoyed a major restoration and expansion.
Whoever takes home the prize will join an illustrious list of previous winners, from the William Morris Gallery which received the first title in 2013 to major players and much-loved institutions such as the Hepworth Wakefield, the V&A and the Horniman Museum and Gardens.
To mark this exciting decade — and ahead of tonight’s ceremony — I’m delighted that this week’s interview is with Art Fund’s Director, Jenny Waldman. Jenny’s role includes chairing the judging panel each year, which she has done since joining the organisation in 2020. We chat about how the prize has evolved, what the next ten years looks like, and crucially, what the annual prize tells us about the health of Britain’s museums.
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Hello Jenny! So, this year marks the 10th anniversary of Art Fund's Museum of the Year (MOTY) prize. What are your reflections on this past decade?
The prize has grown in size and recognition to become the world’s largest museum prize. It gives us an annual opportunity to celebrate the best of the UK’s museums and gives the public some insight into what’s happening in the sector.
Often the shortlisted cohort each year offers a snapshot of changes in the sector. And there has been a great deal of change over this decade. Museums have navigated the pandemic and made it their mission to connect with increasingly broad audiences, with collections and exhibitions that are really engaging and respond to the most pressing issues of today.
How did you find judging this year's award?
It’s been really special. We have taken our expert judges (Mary Beard, Larry Achiampong, Abadesi Osunsade and Laura Pye) all over the country, on sleeper trains and ferries, to get a window into the workings of each museum and to meet the brilliant people who run them. I think all of this year’s finalists are really at the top of their game. They’re operating at very different scales and in different parts of the country but all have inspirational collections and programmes.
We get all the judges together in a room to make the decision, which can take many hours. It’s never easy as all the museums are so good – but there has to be one winner.
The Natural History Museum is nominated for this year's prize. It's the UK's most visited museum. What do you say to those people who think the prize should focus exclusively on smaller museums where a nomination will have bigger impact?
Art Fund invited applications from any UK museum, gallery or historic house – of any scale.
Whether small or large, each of this year’s shortlisted museums impressed us with their achievements and the way they’ve adapted to the challenges of today. What the judges have been looking at is how the museums tell inspiring stories and demonstrate the positive impact their work has had on their communities and their visitors – whether that’s a few hundred or many millions!
This is your fourth year chairing the judging panel of MOTY. What have you learnt about the prize — and museums — in that time?
Year on year, I’ve been amazed at the resilience and innovation of museums. I joined Art Fund at the start of the pandemic, when the world came to a stop. We were able to meet for the shortlisting just before the pandemic, but then lockdown meant that we couldn’t visit any of the shortlisted museums. So the judges decided to share the prize and announce five joint winners.
What I’ve witnessed since judging Museum of the Year is how integral museums are for their local communities at these times of great need. Yet it is the very things that bring museums to life for their communities, such as outreach and education, that are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain with ever more cuts to services.
The award has huge potential to spotlight just how valuable these assets are to society, and we know it’s working, with 100% of previous finalists reporting the prize had a positive effect on profile-raising at a national level, and 92% at a local level.
Those stats come from new research you’ve carried out on the impact being nominated for the prize has on museums. What else did the research find?
Yes, to mark 10 years of Art Fund Museum of the Year, we commissioned new research from BOP Consulting which reviewed the prize’s impact on previous finalists and winning organisations, their communities, and the wider sector over the last decade, as well as looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of the next 10 years.
The research showed that being nominated for the prize has a wealth of benefits for museums, with 64% of previous finalists reporting an increase of visitors through the door; 60% reporting a positive impact on developing community cohesion ad engagement; and 60% of museums reporting participation in the prize led to increased public and private funding.
What does the future hold for MOTY — does it have room to grow further?
The new research has provided an opportunity for us to take stock of the overall impact of the prize over the last 10 years and gather important insights into the evolving priorities of museums as they look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Our ambition is to develop the prize and the role it can play in the future as a significant champion of the sector and support for innovation in museum practice. In the face of what might seem a relentless onslaught of challenges, there is real value in moments like Museum of the Year, which celebrates museums and galleries and all they contribute to their communities and to society – long may it continue!
Why did you increase the prize money for this year's prize?
Yes, we raised the prize money to £120,000 to mark 120 years of Art Fund supporting museums. It’s a significant anniversary for us – Art Fund was established in 1903! £15,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists – bringing the total prize money to £180,000.
The prize money is particularly valuable to museums because the recipient has the freedom to use it in whatever way they’d like. Whether that means supporting operational costs, or putting it towards ambitious or experimental initiatives.
Is the UK museum sector in good health in 2023?
It has been heartening to hear from our 850+ museum and gallery partners that green shoots of optimism are emerging after the trauma of the pandemic and lockdowns. Visitor figures are edging upwards, and there is discernible greater confidence in acquiring and commissioning art and offering great experiences for visitors and communities.
Yet years of decreasing direct investment into museums from local authorities and many other funding sources is taking its toll. Whilst unprecedented Covid funding helped, many museums remain at risk, with further funding cuts across the UK, high inflation and soaring energy costs. Local authority, civic and community museums have been particularly affected by cuts.
We have brilliant museums and galleries across the UK, serving their communities, contributing to the local and national economy and creating places of inspiration, exploration and delight. As a country we should cherish and support them.
Do museums need to be bolder and more confident in taking risks to meet today's challenges?
Many are already doing just that! In the last three years we have seen museums rapidly reimagine their role in society. Take for example our most recent Art Fund Museum of the Year winners; Firstsite in Colchester with their space for art, a community foodbank and a programme on migration, and The Horniman Museum and Gardens in south London which is transforming its community programme in response to both Black Lives Matter and to the climate crisis.
The expanded civic role museums are primed to play—as leaders, educators, and collective repositories of creativity—has never been more vital. From Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, to the national museums including Tate and the Natural History Museum, museums are showing strong leadership in their actions on the climate emergency and protecting the natural environment. We’re seeing museums meeting today’s many challenges in innovative ways.
120 years after its founding, what is Art Fund’s main role today?
When Art Fund was founded, its primary aim was to support acquiring art and objects for the benefit of the public. Whilst our remit has hugely expanded since then, funding collections is still core to our work, and we do this by supporting museums through their exhibitions, programming, curatorial development and acquisitions – which is one area most former Museum of the Year winners and finalists have said they’ve developed following their participation with the prize.
In 2022 we set our vision for the next five years, which centres on three principal activities: funding art; engaging audiences; and championing our museums. Art, as always, is at the core of what we do. We’ll continue to help museums and galleries bring works or art into public collections — both historic works such as the outstanding Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai) which has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, and contemporary art in a variety of forms and from different cultures, which reflects how artists work today.
Tell me more about this aim to fund more art and acquisitions — is this an area museums have neglected over recent years?
The museum landscape has evolved dramatically over the past 12 decades. Yet museums and galleries across the UK continue to come to us with exciting and ambitious applications for support towards acquisitions. There was a quieter period during the pandemic, but in 2022 we committed £4.5 million towards our acquisitions programme, and offered support to help bring over 900 objects and works of art into public collections, across all our collecting programmes and including gifts and bequests. Joseph Wright of Derby’s Self-Portrait at the Age of About Forty (c1772-73) was among the exceptional historic works we were able to help museums acquire, while a moving-image piece by Jananne Al-Ani and The Druthaib’s Ball, the immersive Turner Prize-winning installation by Array Collective, were contemporary highlights.
Finally, who is going to win tonight?
Now if I spilled the beans on the day of the winner announcement, that really would go down in Museum of the Year history.
— The winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023 will be announced at the British Museum tonight. Follow @artfund
Three to Read
1 | A remarkable art collection of Picasso, Lichtenstein, Cézanne and many more has been kept secret for years in New York City. But the public is slowly being allowed a glimpse inside. The Guardian gets a peek, and asks: what are the ethics — and the tax benefits — of a private museum? (Read)
2 | Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron have created some incredible buildings, including London’s Tate Modern. It’s no surprise that their work gets the exhibition treatment at the Royal Academy this week. What is a surprise, is that it’s been described as “[not] exactly like observing paint dry, but it’s not far off.” (Read)
3 | From regional galleries becoming “unsustainable” to brutal cuts to funding of museums, galleries and arts and humanities education, the visual arts sector is in an increasingly perilous state according to a special (and shocking) report by the Art Newspaper. (Read)
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