Vote for Ulster Museum!

NAR

Let's look at the bigger picture here folks. If UM get the £100k then perhaps their grant can be cut to an extent and the funds go to some other deserving project.

jenheiffer

drew2k9 wrote: »

weather it is deserved or not, if they do win i hope they do make some improvements.

So long as they don't take it as a green light to go ahead and repeat the same mistakes again.

arkonite_babe

UM currently in second place

The Ashmolean Museum (31.15%)


The Ulster Museum (31.06%)


Blists Hill Victorian Town (24.57%)


The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum (13.21%)

purt

Ulster Museum wins £100,000 Art Fund Prize
30/06/10

The Ulster Museum, Belfast was tonight announced by judge Kirsty Young as the 2010 winner of the £100,000 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries. Praised by the judges for its all-round excellence, the museum beat three other short-listed institutions, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, to win the Prize. The Ulster Museum was awarded the £100,000 Prize at a reception at RIBA in London, in recognition of Opening up the Ulster Museum, a three year, £17.8 million project.

Tim Cooke, Director of National Museums Northern Ireland, said, “We are delighted on Northern Ireland’s behalf. This is the first time in Northern Ireland’s history that a prestigious cultural prize of this nature has been awarded to an institution in the region. This prize will encourage us as we endeavour to play a meaningful role at the heart of our changing society.”

He went on to say: “Rejuvenating the Ulster Museum in Belfast has been a deeply rewarding and purposeful experience coinciding with a remarkable period of change in Northern Ireland’s history. The public appetite for the new space and for engagement with our collections has been huge – as evidenced by the record visitor numbers and the massive level of support for the public vote element of The Art Fund Prize. I am grateful to all our visitors and supporters for their vital interest, to our funders, including the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Heritage Lottery Fund, to all National Museums Northern Ireland staff involved in the project and to The Art Fund Prize judges for all their time, care and enthusiasm. It is particularly humbling for us to be selected for this prize against such high calibre competition. I congratulate the Ashmolean Museum, Blists Hill Victorian Town and The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum for all their achievements. They are all outstanding projects in their own right.”

Kirsty Young, Chair of the Judges commented: “We were moved and invigorated by our visit to the Ulster Museum. Here is a museum that shows how much can be achieved, and one that is building a lasting legacy. We were impressed by the interactive learning spaces on each level that are filled with objects which visitors are encouraged to touch and explore, and by how the museum’s commitment to reaching all parts of its community is reflected in the number and diversity of its visitors. The transformed Ulster Museum is an emblem of the confidence and cultural rejuvenation of Northern Ireland.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, commented: “Ulster Museum is a brilliant example of a museum that is passionate about its public. The redevelopment is stunning, capturing its visitors' minds and hearts with exceptional creative flair. But I must pay credit to all participants in the Prize; it’s been an extraordinarily strong year and a stirring reminder of the wealth of culture, history, beauty, life and science in museums across the UK. Everyone should get out there and visit as many as possible!”

For the first time, The Art Fund Prize website hosted a poll inviting the public to vote for their favourite nominated museum or gallery, and to post supporting comments telling the Judges why they should win. The poll received an unprecedented 73,000 votes and over 40,000 comments. The Judges’ visits to the short list, and consideration of the results of the online poll and public comments informed their decision.

The Ulster Museum’s major project Opening up the Ulster Museum represents the first substantial development of this national museum in almost 40 years and makes an important contribution to the cultural rejuvenation of Northern Ireland. The three year project, at a cost of £17.8 million, has radically reconfigured the Museum’s listed building, offering a series of new galleries including interactive Learning Zones, a stunning new Applied Art Gallery and state-of-the-art, 3 storey-high Window on Our World display. The Ulster Museum re-opened on 22 October 2009 with a landmark retrospective exhibition by world renowned abstract artist, Sean Scully. Since its redevelopment, the Ulster Museum has become Northern Ireland’s busiest visitor attraction.

The Ulster Museum was also awarded with the enamelled silver Art Fund Prize Bowl made by craftsman Vladimir Bohm, which they can display for the next year.

The 2010 judging panel comprises:

Kirsty Young (Chairman), broadcaster
Kathy Gee, museums and heritage adviser
Professor A C Grayling, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, London
Professor J Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics, University College London
Sally Osman, communications consultant and former Director of Communications, BBC
Lars Tharp, Director, The Foundling Museum and BBC Antiques Roadshow expert
Jonathan Yeo, artist
The £100,000 prize is annually awarded to the museum or gallery for a project completed in the last year, that the Judges deem demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence. The Prize, which has been sponsored by membership charity the Art Fund for three years, aims to increase public appreciation and enjoyment of the UK’s museums and galleries.

Sky Arts returned as the TV Media partner for this years’ Art Fund Prize. For more information go to: https://www.skyarts.co.uk/artfundprize

SnowyOwl_2

I heard on the news that the Ulster Museum was the recipient of this prestigious award. Excellent news!

avoniel

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People Power

Bigcammy

Great work!

donnac2558

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Yeah!!!!

caz2703

avoniel wrote: »

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People Power

Amazing what you can do with MSE and Facebook!

wishicouldmakeitbetter

Great that they got the money but have to agree with Will Gompertz on bbc website:


Excellence, originality and innovation were the judges' criteria. Having visited the Ulster Museum recently, I can vouch that all three were present. As they should be, frankly: the place has been under wraps for the last three years undergoing a £17m redevelopment, turning a dark and dingy turn-off into a bright and airy turn-on.
Or as Tim Cooke, the Museum's director put it: "the old building was designed to keep people out; this one welcomes them in". He's an ebullient, energetic man who is clearly driven by improving the cultural offer in Ulster. He talks a lot of sense, although I was a little disappointed when he told me how he intended to spend his winnings.
He plans to install more digital interactive displays. Museum bosses are very keen on all this stuff, but in my experience audiences are not. If ever I want a quiet contemplative time away from the crowds in a busy museum, I always head for its "digital space", where I can guarantee the only thing that will disturb me is the gentle whir of 30 highly-specked computers resting in "sleep" mode.
The Ulster Museum's redevelopment is impressive and stands comparison with the best. But the concept that seemed to capture the imagination of the visitors was not fancy or digital or expensive. OK, there were one or two computers in the "interactive spaces", but they were used to put bags on. What the visitors raved about was real-life interaction: being given permission to pick up and inspect the objects.
And the feature that had most "visitor engagement" was as low-tech as it gets. A picture window has been incorporated into the new design, which looks out over the botanic gardens. In a moment of real excellence, originality and innovation, somebody came up with the idea of putting a table at the foot of the window. On the table is a sheet of the types of birds you might spot from this vantage point and some binoculars with which to do so.



Genius. And cheap. And not a plug in sight.

Digital displays are limited in number of people can use them at a time and people can do a lot of the same sort of stuff via the internet at home. St Patrick's Centre in Downpatrick had (has?) them and a lot of people went once and never went back. Also digital displays always seem to be on the blink!
G