London’s Horniman Museum has been crowned Art Fund Museum of the Year 2022 for its work to inspire the next generation.
The Forest Hill site is the only museum in the capital where the environment, ecology and human cultures can be seen side by side on a global scale.
Its director, Nick Merriman, received the £100,000 prize – the world’s biggest museum prize – from DJ and broadcaster Hugh Stevens at a ceremony at the Design Museum on Thursday.
Horniman was praised for completely reconfiguring his program in 2021 in the wake of the pandemic, Black Lives Matter and the growing urgency of the climate crisis.
It created its ‘Reset Agenda’, which focused on refocusing activity to reach different audiences more representative of London. This includes embedding a Climate and Ecology Manifesto – from an online club of environmental champions to the creation of a microforest to combat local air pollution.
“From the children’s takeover of the galleries to its youth panel of 14-19-year-olds, work experience opportunities and Kickstart apprenticeships, the museum is inspiring the next generation,” said Art Fund, the UK’s national arts charity.
An additional focus of Reset Agenda was the 696 program, an interrogation of the power and responsibility that community organizations have in supporting local music.
The museum is said to showcase the creativity of black Britons through a sell-out festival which reached 8,000 visitors, while nearly 20,000 experienced the associated exhibition.
Jenny Waldman, director of the art fund and chair of the jury, said: “The Horniman Museum and Gardens has now blossomed into a truly holistic museum, bringing together art, nature and a myriad of collections.
“His values are woven into everything he does now, with a passionate team that breathes life and meaning into every object, performance, plant and animal. In many ways it is the perfect museum and I would encourage everyone to go and experience all it has to offer.’
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Dame Diane Lees, director-general of the Imperial War Museums and a fellow judge, said the museum protects the natural environment and commissions artists and music festivals “to bring new meaning to Frederic Horniman’s eclectic collections to different communities. They set the agenda for how a traditional museum can reinvent itself through powerful ideas.
The 2022 edition of the annual award supported organizations whose achievements told the story of museum creativity and sustainability, and in particular focused on those engaging the next generation of audiences in innovative ways.
The other four shortlisted museums – the Story Museum in Oxford, the National History Museum in Manchester, Ty Pawb in Wrexham and the Museum of Making in Derby – received a £15,000 award in recognition of their achievements.
Judges on this year’s panel also included artist and educator Harold Ofeh, cultural historian and broadcaster Dr Gianina Ramirez and Hugh Stevens.
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