Scapa Flow Museum shortlisted for prestigious UK prize

May 22, 2023 at 10:36 am

The redeveloped Scapa Flow Museum has been recognised with a national shortlisting.

Scapa Flow Museum in Lyness is in the running for the world’s largest museum prize.

Art Fund, the UK’s national charity for art, has announced the five museums selected as finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023, with the recently refurbished Scapa Flow Museum one of the five hoping to land the prize.

The 2023 edition celebrates ten years of Art Fund Museum of the Year, a prize grounded in 50 years of history championing the UK’s 2,500 museums, galleries and heritage sites.

The four other finalists are: Leighton House and National History Museum in London; The Mac in Belfast and The Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the British Museum in London on July 12 and will receive £120,000, specially increased for 2023 and beyond to mark 120 years of Art Fund supporting museums.

The four other finalists will each be given £15,000.

Speaking on behalf of the judges, Jenny Waldman, director, Art Fund said: “The five Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023 finalists are at the top of their same, offering inspirational collections and programmes for their communities, for visitors from across the UK and around the world.

“From transformational redevelopment to community involvement to addressing the major issues of today, the shortlisted museums may operate at very different scales, but all show astonishing ambition and boundless creativity. Each is a blueprint for future innovation in museums. Visit them if you possibly can.“

Scapa Flow Museum tells the stories of Orkney and Orcadians during the First and Second World War, the construction of the huge naval base at Lyness in Hoy, Scapa Flow as a naval base, and the Royal Navy and military presence in Orkney.