Wrexham’s Tŷ Pawb among the runners up as judge Huw Stephens hands out Museum Of The Year award

Art gallery Tŷ Pawb in Wrexham came away with a £15,000 runner-up prize as BBC Radio 6 DJ and judge Huw Stephens handed out the award for Museum Of The Year today.

London’s Horniman Museum and Gardens was crowned the winner after it reimagined its role as the creative hub of the community during the pandemic – having had time to reflect on the climate emergency and Black Lives Matter protests.

Art Fund’s Museum Of The Year is the largest museum prize in the world, with the director of Horniman, Nick Merriman, presented with a £100,000 prize.

Also among the runners up were the Derby Museums, Museum of Making, People’s History Museum in Manchester, and the Story Museum in Oxford.

Tŷ Pawb which opened in April 2018 is described as a cultural community resource, bringing together arts and markets within the same footprint and celebrating the significance of markets within Wrexham’s cultural heritage and identity.

‘Diverse’

Jenny Waldman, art fund director and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year, said: “The Horniman Museum and Gardens has now blossomed into a truly holistic museum bringing together art, nature and its myriad collections.

“Its values are woven through everything it now does, with a passionate team breathing life and meaning into every object, performance, plant and animal.

“In many ways it’s the perfect museum and I would encourage everyone to go and experience all it has to offer.”

Officials at the museum had created a micro-forest to combat local air pollution and curated the 696 festival, incorporating the black British sounds of south London through gigs, installations, collaborations and a summer music festival.

It is also London’s only museum to exhibit environmental, ecological and human culture side-by-side.

Dame Diane Lees, director-general of the Imperial War Museums, said: “The Horniman Museum and Gardens are championing the natural environment, commissioning artists and music festivals, to bring the eclectic collections of Frederick Horniman new relevance with diverse communities.

“They are setting the agenda for how a traditional museum can reinvent itself through powerful ideas.”

Last year, the prize was awarded to Firstsite in Colchester in Essex, after it transformed into a food bank and helped serve free school meals during the pandemic.