Sky Arts goes behind the scenes to explore the museums and galleries who are competing for this year's The Art Fund Prize. The judging panel, headed by Lord Puttnam of Queensgate, visited all the long listed museums during March and April before announcing a short list of four in May. Ahead of the judging, Sky Arts visited all the long listed museums and galleries across the country to meet the organisers, curators and directors responsible for the projects.See the next page for the long listed museums and galleries and our exclusive videos >>

The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries is the UK’s largest single arts prize. The £100,000 prize is awarded each year to one museum or gallery, chosen from a long list of ten, whose project demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence. The Prize was launched in 2003 to highlight the brilliance of the UK’s museums and galleries and to increase public appreciation and enjoyment of all they have to offer. This year’s long list includes museums from Edinburgh and Co Antrim to Reading and London. To find out more about the long listed museums and galleries, visit artfundprize.org.uk.

The Art Fund is an independent membership charity, founded in 1903, which is committed to saving art for everyone to enjoy. With the support of its 80,000 members it has helped more than 600 UK museums and galleries acquire over 860,000 works of art, ranging from Bronze Age treasure to contemporary video installations. Without The Art Fund, some of the greatest works of art in Britain’s public collections simply would not be there: these include Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, recently acquired by the National Gallery, London and the National Galleries of Scotland, Antonio Canova’s Three Graces shared between the V&A and National Galleries of Scotland and JMW Turner’s Blue Rigi, now in the Tate collection. The Art Fund’s support of The Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries reflects its continuing championship of museums and their visitors around the UK.

To find out more about The Art Fund and for membership, visit www.artfund.org

See the next page for the short and long listed museums and galleries and our exclusive videos >>