Five Museum of the Year winners include Towner Eastbourne and Science Museum 6 Nov 2020

The Art Fund has announced five joint winners for the 2020 Museum of the Year competition. The prize is usually awarded to a single winner, with four runners up, but the new format was adopted in response to the coronavirus crisis. The winners are: 

• Aberdeen Art Gallery – chosen following the most significant redevelopment in its 135 year history. This was completed in 2019 and tripled the collections on display.
• Gairloch Museum, situated on the north-west coast of Scotland, moved to a new home in a repurposed nuclear bunker in 2019, turning ‘a village eyesore into an important visitor attraction’. The move came at the end of an eight-year £2.4m redevelopment, organised by the community, including 120 volunteers.
• Science Museum, London received the prize for a ‘shift-change’ in the institution, with work ranging from two major new galleries (Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries and Science City 1550-1800: The Linbury Gallery), a tour of Tom Peake’s spacecraft and a new relationship with visitors and the local community.
• South London Gallery doubled in size through opening a second site at a former Fire Station, while continuing to offer world-class contemporary art to the people of South London.
• Towner Eastbourne has launched its new vision to transform communities through art, despite a funding cut. It is committed to promoting under-represented artists and addressing the needs of intergenerational and diverse communities.

Each museum receives £40k from an overall prize of £200k. Art Fund (twitter), Art Fund (winners), BBC, Herald Scotland, Guardian, Art Newspaper, Press and Journal, South London Gallery