{"id":496098,"date":"2026-06-26T06:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496098\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:02:18","slug":"the-box-in-plymouth-a-welcoming-space-which-reaches-beyond-its-walls-wins-uk-art-funds-museum-of-the-year-prize-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496098\/","title":{"rendered":"The Box in Plymouth, \u2018a welcoming space\u2019 which \u2018reaches beyond its walls\u2019, wins UK Art Fund\u2019s Museum of the Year prize – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Box in Plymouth, in the west of England, has won the UK Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, beating the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The award, the most prestigious prize in the UK museum sector, is worth \u00a3120,000.<\/p>\n

Victoria Pomery, the chief executive of The Box, was presented with the award by the broadcaster and judge June Sarpong at a ceremony on board the Cutty Sark, Royal Museums Greenwich, this evening.<\/p>\n

The Box marked its fifth birthday in September last year and has drawn more than one million visitors since it opened. A\u00a02025 report<\/a> published by the gallery states, meanwhile, that it has boosted the city\u2019s economy by \u00a3244m. The institution also says that its schools programme reaches 10,000 children each year, engaging 89% of Plymouth schools to date.<\/p>\n

The judges also commended three artist-led projects in 2025\u2014led by Osman Yousefzada, Jeremy Deller and Jyll Bradley\u2014which expanded The Box\u2019s \u201cengagement with local communities, reimagining the future through Plymouth\u2019s past and examining how reframing historic collections can challenge traditional museum narratives.\u201d A\u00a0Beryl Cook exhibition<\/a>\u00a0held at the venue this year was also critically acclaimed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An exhibition view of Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy at the Box, Plymouth earlier this year<\/p>\n

Photo: David Levene; Art Fund 2026<\/p>\n

Jenny Waldman, the director of Art Fund and the chair of the judges, said in a statement: \u201cIn just five years, The Box has transformed how Plymouth\u2019s remarkable collections are shared and experienced, creating a welcoming space for visitors and reaching beyond its walls into public spaces and almost every school in the city. Its social and economic impact demonstrates what long-term investment in culture can achieve and is recognised and championed by Plymouth City Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to The Box website, Plymouth City Council owns The Box\u2019s main site and the adjacent St. Luke\u2019s church buildings, which together make up the institution. \u201cThe Box is operated through a not-for-profit company called Arca (Plymouth) Limited,\u201d says the online statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The other shortlisted museums, which all receive \u00a320,000 each, are: The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), The National Gallery (London), Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Norwich) and V&A East Storehouse (London).<\/p>\n

The other Art Fund Museum of the Year judges are Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums; the artist Yinka Ilori MBE; and the author Alice Loxton. Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, an open-air museum in County Durham that brings 19th and 20th century history to life through \u201cimmersive exhibits\u201d,\u00a0won last year\u2019s\u00a0Art Fund Museum of the Year prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Box in Plymouth, in the west of England, has won the UK Art Fund Museum of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[117701,442,498,499,500,501,156,12603,111,139,69,47902],"class_list":["post-496098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art-fund","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-museums-heritage","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-openings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}