Ditchling museum in running for best in UK award
A village museum in East Sussex is fighting it out with some of the biggest names in the UK for the title of best in the country.
Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft reopened at the end of 2013 following a £2.3m redevelopment.
After receiving widespread acclaim, the museum has now been shortlisted for for the prestigious Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014.
It will now fight it out with museums including Tate Britain and The Mary Rose for the honour and the £100,000 prize.
Hilary Williams, director of Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft, said: “The museum is honoured to be a finalist for The Art Fund Prize for Museum of 2014.
“It is testament to the hard work from the staff, volunteers and supporters who have worked to turn this small local museum into an organisation of national standards.”
The museum focuses on the artists and craftspeople who made the village a creative centre in the early 20th century.
It holds a nationally important collection including work by Eric Gill, David Jones, Edward Johnston, Frank Brangwyn and Ethel Mairet.
The Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year was established in 2003.
Previous winners include the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter and the British Museum.
Others shortlisted for the 2014 prize are Tate Britain, London; Hayward Gallery, London; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; and The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London on July 9.
Stephen Deuchar, chairman of the judges, said: “This was a strong year, by any standards, for UK museums and it was no easy task to select a shortlist of six from an extraordinary body of applications.
“It is almost as if imaginative and innovative curatorship, combined with the highest standards of presentation, is no longer the exception but the rule.
“No wonder that the international reputation of UK museums is riding so high, and we’re delighted that the Museum of the Year will salute this through both the process of the competition and, of course, the £100,000 Prize.”
