Young V&A, a museum aimed at children that reopened in London in 2023 after an extensive overhaul, was selected from five shortlisted candidates as the winner of the UK’s Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024 prize.
“I was inspired by the museum’s vision to become a space for the next generation to feel empowered and to imagine their future; a space that will cement museums as places they belong and feel welcome as they grow up, regardless of their background,” said Vick Hope, a broadcaster and one of five judges of the award.
“In such a short time the Young V & A’s global impact has been really incredible, demonstrating the potential of what museums can be for children,” she said.
The museum welcomed more than 590,000 people in the first nine months after reopening—more than three times the number who visited its predecessor, the V&A Museum of Childhood, in the same period from 2019 to 2020.
The £120,000 prize money will enable the museum to “build on its deeply embedded local community programme, working with some of the country’s most deprived children,” the museum said in a statement.
“This win is a clarion call for the vital role of creativity, culture and play in children’s lives when so many opportunities have been taken away through the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing under-investment in creative education nationally,” said Helen Charman, the director of the Young V&A.
The other four finalists, Craven Museum in Skipton, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Manchester Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, each receive £15,000.
“This year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year was a tough competition with an exciting shortlist,” said Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s newly elected Labour government. The Young V&A, she said had worked hard “to create a unique space dedicated to young people.”
The Art Fund Museum of the Year prize is funded by its members who buy a National Art Pass. It has been awarded annually since 2013 and previous winners have included the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, the Horniman Museum, Tate St Ives and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
