Wellcome Collection in the running for the Art Fund Prize

6 February 2008

The Wellcome Trust's new public gallery and museum, Wellcome Collection, is in the running for the prestigious Art Fund Prize - a national award given to a public venue whose project demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence.

This is the first year that The Art Fund, the UK's leading independent art charity, has sponsored this major arts prize - formerly the Gulbenkian Prize. The prize is open to all accredited museums and galleries in the UK in recognition of originality and excellence in museums and galleries. It also aims to increase public appreciation and enjoyment of all they have to offer.

"Since opening Wellcome Collection in June of last year, we have been delighted with the enthusiastic response from our visitors to our ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art," said Clare Matterson, Wellcome Trust Director of Medicine, Society and History. "I am sure that if Henry Wellcome, our founder, were alive today he would be as thrilled and honoured as we are that Wellcome Collection is on the list for the prestigious Art Fund Prize alongside some of the country's top visitor attractions."

Following judges' visits, four museums and galleries will be short-listed and announced in early April. The winner will be announced on Thursday 22 May at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London during Museums and Galleries Month 2008.

Sue MacGregor, Chair of the Judges, comments: "We're going to have an exciting and absorbing time visiting all ten museums and galleries. Some of them are relatively small - Orkney's Pier Arts Centre or Woking's ultra-modern Lightbox museum for instance.Others are huge and all-embracing, like Wellcome Collection in London, or tightly focused, like the soldiers' own version of the conflict in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, at the National Army Museum. There are two different exhibitions to consider on the history of the slave trade: one in Liverpool and one in Bristol. Eventually ten must be whittled down to one - but I know we'll all have been bowled over by the imagination and inspiration we’ve encountered on the way."

David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, comments: "With the prize now in its sixth year, the long list once again presents us with an impressive range of projects that reflect the ambition, diversity and excellence of our museums and galleries. The Art Fund is determined to encourage more people to explore the museum collections that we work so hard to enrich. I'm delighted that we are able to support this important prize which recognises the most imaginative, innovative and popular developments of the previous year."

The 2008 judging panel comprises:

Sue MacGregor CBE (Chair), broadcaster
Keith Khan, Head of Culture for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games
Diane Lees, Director of the V&A Museum of Childhood and Director Designate of the Imperial War Museum
Christopher Lloyd CVO, former Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures
Dr Mark Miodownik, Head of Materials Research Group, King’s College London
Maggie Semple OBE, Chief Executive of The Experience Corps Ltd
Emma Soames, Editor of Saga Magazine.

Last year's winner was Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Previous winners include Brunel's ss Great Britain in Bristol (2006), Big Pit: National Mining Museum of Wales, Blaenafon (2005), The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art for Landform - part sculpture, part garden, part land-art - by Charles Jencks (2004), and the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law at the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham (2003).

For more information and other long-listed venues please visit The Art Fund Prize website.

Media enquiries

Mike Findlay, Wellcome Trust Media Office
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
E m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

Notes for editors

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

Our former headquarters, the Wellcome Building on London's Euston Road, has been redesigned by Hopkins Architects to become a new £30 million public venue. Free to all, Wellcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. The building comprises three galleries, a public events space, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop, conference facilities and a members' club.