SKY ARTS AT THE ART FUND

Sky Arts partners with The Art Fund Prize

The following four contenders have been short listed for the Prize:

The Centre of New Enlightenment @ Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum - watch video >>
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, long-listed for The Art Fund Prize for the second time, is the UK’s most visited museum outside London and displays over 8,000 objects relating to art, science, history and natural history.

The Centre of New Enlightenment is a programme of educational events and experiences that begin with a cinematic and hand-held-computer tour for young people at Kelvingrove. The aim is to use the unique museum environment – and in particular its collections, staff and spaces – to inspire young people to achieve success in their lives. The project has been funded with the help of a five million pound donation from the Hunter Foundation. glasgowmuseums.com

Sky Arts at The Art Fund Prize Orleans House Gallery - watch video >>
Following the culmination of a significant Heritage Lottery Funded development project in 2008, the gallery is now a thriving community hub for creativity and education. This transformation has enabled the Gallery to realise the potential of its whole site: bringing decaying buildings into use to provide inspirational new gallery and education spaces and opening up new areas of the gardens.

The Gallery buildings include the Octagon Room designed by James Gibb in 1720, the only remnant of Orleans House, an 18th century riverside villa demolished in 1926. The remaining buildings and site were left in trust to the Borough in 1963. The Gallery now holds the Richmond Borough Art Collection which comprises over 2,400 paintings, prints and drawings relating to the Borough as well as the Burton Collection, the personal effects and paintings of the Victorian explorer and writer Sir Richard Burton. Recent additions include light box panoramas by Emily Allchurch and commissioned works by autistic savant Stephen Wiltshire. richmond.gov.uk/arts

Sky Arts at The Art Fund Prize Ruthin Craft Centre - watch video >>
The new Ruthin Craft Centre is a contemporary masterpiece inspired by the landscape that surrounds it. The design reflects the contemporary purpose of the building. Hand trowelled cast stone walls are topped by a crafted zinc roof. The 1650 sq.m building in its own landscape setting is the largest complex of buildings devoted to the applied arts in Wales with a constituency of the whole of Wales and within easy reach of 6 million people in the North West of England and regular visitors from the rest of the U.K. and internationally. ruthincraftcentre.org.uk

Sky Arts at The Art Fund Prize The Wedgwood Museum - watch video >>
The skills, artistry and ingenuity of the Wedgwood workforce are displayed chronologically from 1730 to today. The first Josiah Wedgwood understood the value of archives, and visitors will be intrigued to see not just pots but a huge and unique range of manuscripts, documentation, correspondence, factory equipment, trials and original models as well as fine art and, of course, one of the most important ceramic collections in the world.

In the context of a decline in local ceramic production the new Wedgwood Museum has also become a beacon of the pride local people have in an industry that has been part of their lives for generations. This is one of the museum’s most-important legacies.

The Wedgwood collections are important not only locally but also regionally, nationally and internationally. This whole project has enabled the display of ten times more objects than ever before revealing the glories and surprises of this fascinating accumulation for the benefit of all. wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk