Prize criteria and timetable
The application guidance below relates to the 2010 Prize round which is now closed. There are unlikely to be significant changes to the criteria and broad timetable for the 2011 Prize.
The call for entries for the 2011 Prize will be announced in October 2010 and fresh application guidance will be published on this site at the same time.
What are we looking for?
The single award of £100,000 will be presented in June 2010 to the museum or gallery whose entry, in the opinion of the judges:
- demonstrates excellence, originality and imagination;
- has the capacity to promote wider public appreciation of museums and galleries and their collections;
- has clearly won the support and enthusiasm of its visitors and users;
- extends public understanding of works of art and objects of aesthetic interest, or demonstrates imaginative use of artists and designers to interpret collections;
- is likely to provide a lasting legacy.
What kind of projects?
We welcome entries from across the whole range of museum and gallery activities, including (but not restricted to):
- new exhibitions, buildings or refurbishments
- significant acquisitions, their interpretation and use
- education, audience development and outreach work
- collection conservation projects involving the public
- imaginative use of new technology
- initiatives that engage with contemporary issues.
When should projects have been completed?
You can submit an entry for any kind of museum and gallery project as long as it was completed, or mainly took place, during the calendar year 2009.
Although your entry should be for a defined project, the Judges will assess how it has contributed to the museum or gallery’s work as a whole.
We recognise that some kind of projects – such as educational initiatives and other activity programmes – cannot be ‘visited’ in the conventional sense, so it is important to think about how you would present such a project to the Judges and to the media if long-listed.
Experience has shown that it is difficult for the Judges to assess temporary exhibitions that are no longer running at the time of assessment. The Museum Prize Trustees have therefore agreed that to be eligible for consideration, temporary exhibitions should be running during the judging period, which commences in March 2010, and at the time of the award in June 2010.
Is your organisation eligible?
The Prize is open to all museums and galleries in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. We normally expect applicants to be participants in the Museum Registration/Accreditation Scheme operated by The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
Exceptions may be considered where organisations are in the public sector, or have charitable status, and whose activities are based on the care and interpretation of collections of historical, artistic or scientific interest. The Trustees’ decision on eligibility is final.
Only one entry may be submitted per individual museum or gallery. Where an organisation operates several museums and galleries, an entry may be submitted for each, but in drawing up the long list not more than one entry will be selected from the same multi-site service.
Entries may be submitted on behalf of collaborative projects between one or more organisations, but the entrant will be taken to be the lead museum or gallery ‘in association with’ its partners.
If you are still unsure whether your project or organisation is eligible, please get in touch. We are keen to encourage as many credible entries as possible and would much rather work with you to find a way for your project or initiative to be considered than have you rule yourselves out at the start. The Prize Administrator, Rosemary Ewles, can be contacted on 020 8926 0442 or at info@artfundprize.org.uk
Our conditions
Before you submit an entry, please consider whether you will be able to meet our conditions if you are long-listed. We will ask long-listed organisations:
- that make an admission charge, to offer free entry to Art Fund members for the duration of the competition, i.e. from the date of the long list announcement at the end of February to the end of June 2010.
- that make a charge for temporary exhibitions, to offer Art Fund members free entry to charging temporary exhibitions during the same period, or at least give them as generous a reduction as they offer to other supporters, such as their Friends.
- to display an Art Fund leaflet stand and posters at least for the duration of the competition;
- to provide us with feedback at the end of the competition to help us assess the impact of the Prize and to improve our processes where necessary.
How to apply
For each entry you should send us:
- a completed application form;
- a supporting statement of not more than 2,000 words;
- a minimum of four, high-quality photographs.
You may also send us supporting material relevant to the project, e.g. marketing materials, publications. If you want such material to form part of your submission and to be seen by all the Judges you should supply seven copies.
The more information that you can send us electronically the better – whether submitted online, by e-mail or on disc. This makes sharing information with the Judges much easier. But we accept that some information will always have to be sent as hard copy. Please do not send material in larger than A4 format.
We regret that we are unable to return copies of application materials.
Application form
You have three options for completing the application form:
- Submit the online application form covering both your project details and supporting statement. You will be able to print a copy of completed form;
- Download the application form PDF and fill it out on screen. You can then save the PDF and send it to us via email or on disc. You will need to provide your supporting statement as a separate text document;
- Download the application form PDF, print it out and use as a paper form.
You may need to download Adobe Reader in order to view the PDF.
Supporting statement
Your statement of not more than 2,000 words should provide more detailed information about the project and why you believe it meets the criteria for the Art Fund Prize. You can submit your statement:
Photographs
Please supply all photographs electronically (in JPG or TIFF format) – either by e-mail or on CD by post. You give us the right to use the photographs you send us, so you should ensure you have permission to use the photographs before you send them to us.
The postal address for applications is:
The Administrator
The Art Fund Prize 2010
24 Calvin Street
London E1 6NW
What happens next?
All applications received are assessed by the Museum Prize Trustees, The Art Fund Director and the Prize Administrator, who recommend a list of around twenty-five entries for consideration by the panel of seven independent judges. From these the judges select a long list of ten.
The public announcement of the long list will be made towards the end of February 2010. At the same time we will let other applicants know that they were not successful on this occasion.
Following announcement of the long list, each of the candidates will be visited by at least four judges. The Prize Administrator will liaise with each organisation to agree a convenient date. There will be one official visit to each museum on the long list, but additional visits may be made by judges privately and without notice.
If you are long-listed
This will be a great opportunity to increase awareness of your organisation and your work on both the local and national level. We will provide a PR briefing pack and individual support from our PR consultants to help you to make the most of this.
If you haven’t supplied these already, we will ask you for at least 4 high-quality, captioned photographs illustrating aspects of your project. High-quality photographic images are essential in promoting the long list to the media, so we urge you to consider using professional photographers where possible.
We will be encouraging long-listed museums to promote their nominations and The Art Fund Prize in a joint initiative over the weekend of 10-11 April 2010. It will be up to each organisation to decide how they wish to use this opportunity, but we will stand ready to provide advice and press and marketing support as required. Further information will be provided in the briefing pack.
We strongly recommend that long-listed museums identify a ‘champion’ – someone well-known to local or national media – who will publicly support and endorse your project and generate media interest.
Short list
When the long list visits are complete the judges will choose a short list of four museums or galleries to go forward as finalists. The short list will be announced towards the end of April. A final round of judges’ visits will take place so that by the end of the process, all judges will have visited all four finalists.
Winner
The winner will be announced at a reception in London during June 2010. They will receive £100,000 and will be the holder for one year of the Prize trophy.
The decision of the judging panel is final.
For further information and guidance contact info@artfundprize.org.uk |
Home
How to apply
Top