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Press release

Love your London museum!

6/3/08

On Saturday 15 March, four London museums will join together for a ‘Love your London Museum’ day as they compete for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries.

Londoners are being called on to pledge their support for their favourite. Come and join the Paras at the National Army Museum, a giant jelly baby at The Wellcome Collection, a 1930s housewife at the London Transport Museum, marvel at the holy books of the British Library, and celebrate what’s best on show.

These four London museums are joined by six other museums and galleries across the UK that have been long listed for The Art Fund Prize.
The winner will be announced on 22 May 2008.
www.artfundprize.org.uk

Listings information:

Love your London museum day – Saturday 15 March 2008

British Library
10.00 – 17.00
96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB
The British Library will showcase the highlights from its highly acclaimed ‘Sacred’ exhibition, which brought together the world's greatest collection of Jewish, Christian and Islamic holy texts together side by side for the first time last year.  

London Transport Museum
10.30 – 16.00
39 Wellington Street, WC2E 7BB
A 1930s housewife will present one of the new museum’s most popular features, its collection of iconic transport posters, which would have attracted her 1930s counterparts from suburban London onto the Tube and into central London for a day out.

National Army Museum
10.00 – 16.30
Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HT
Paras and engineers from 16 Air Assault Brigade will be on hand to talk and answer questions about the exhibition they helped to create about their life and work in one of the world’s most dangerous combat zones, Helmand Province.  This is the last time they will come to the exhibition before they return to the front line.  

The Wellcome Collection
11.00 – 16.00
183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE
A giant 4ft Jelly Baby will greet visitors at The Wellcome Collection, where they will be asked to nominate their favourite exhibits from over 1,500 items on display, spanning six centuries. Families will be able to try out The Wellcome Collection’s Young Explorers Pack.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries is administered by the Museum Prize, a charitable company created in 2002 by The Art Fund, the Campaign for Museums, the Museums Association and National Heritage.  Its trustees are Penelope, Viscountess Cobham (Chair), James Bishop (National Heritage), Ylva French (Campaign for Museums), Mark Taylor (Museums Association), Sandy Nairne (Director of the National Portrait Gallery), James Naughtie and Eleanor Updale. 

• The Museum Prize is registered as a company in England and Wales No. 421870 and a charity No. 1093174.  Registered Office: 24 Calvin Street, London E1 6NW.

• The Art Fund is the UK’s leading independent art charity. It offers grants to help UK museums and galleries enrich their collections and campaigns widely on behalf of museums and their visitors.  It is entirely funded from public donations and has 80,000 members.  Since 1903 the charity has helped museums and galleries all over the UK secure 860,000 works of art for their collections.  In February 2008 The Art Fund helped secure Anthony d’Offay’s collection, ARTIST ROOMS, for Tate and National Galleries of Scotland with an exceptional grant from reserves of £1million.  In January 2007 The Art Fund successfully led the public appeal to save JMW Turner’s Blue Rigi for Tate, and in July 2007 was instrumental in putting together a unique funding package to ensure Dumfries House in Ayrshire was secured for the nation.  Independent of government, The Art Fund is uniquely placed to campaign on behalf of public collections across the UK and led the campaign to extend free admission to all national museums and galleries, which achieved success in 2001. Visit the charity’s website at www.artfund.org

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