Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, has won the prestigious Art Fund museum of the year award, the largest such prize in the world.
Beamish is a renowned open-air museum that brings to life the North East of England’s Georgian, Edwardian, 1940s and 1950s history, through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and volunteers, and experience regional stories of everyday life.
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North was one of five finalists. The other shortlisted museums, all highly commended by the judges, were: Chapter (Cardiff), Compton Verney (Warwickshire), Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast) and Perth Museum (Perth & Kinross). Each finalist will receive £15,000. Together with £120,000 received by the winning museum, the total prize money for Art Fund Museum of the Year is £180,000.
In the past year, Beamish has completed its Remaking Beamish project, the biggest development in its 55-year history, which included the recreation of a 1950s Town, developed with community input from people with firsthand knowledge of the original spaces. The project involved over 32,000 community members, 14,338 schoolchildren, and 35,000 volunteer hours to create 31 new exhibits within the museum. The opening of aged miners’ homes, which tell the story of the pioneering welfare provision for retired miners in County Durham, also provide a dedicated space for the museum’s award-winning health and wellbeing work.
The museum has been commended for its exceptional visitor experience, receiving the national Visitor Welcome Award at the 2024 Museums + Heritage Awards. The museum provides innovative educational programming for 40,000 schoolchildren annually, using its collections and spaces to inspire learning across disciplines, from local history to science and engineering. In 2024, the museum welcomed over 838,630 visitors and remains the region’s most visited attraction and museum.
The 2025 judging panel, chaired by Art Fund director Jenny Waldman, includes: Rana Begum (Artist), Dr David Dibosa (Director of Research and Interpretation, Tate), Jane Richardson (Chief Executive, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales) and Phil Wang (Comedian, Writer, Actor). The judges visited each of the finalists to inform their decision-making.
The prize is funded thanks to the generosity of Art Fund’s members who buy a National Art Pass. Pass holders enjoy discounts and benefits at the finalist museums and hundreds more across the UK, whilst also supporting Art Fund’s vital work championing and supporting museums.
Art Fund annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Museum of the Year. The 2025 edition recognises inspiring projects and activity from autumn 2023 through to winter 2024. In addition to looking at the overall achievements of the organisation, the judges are tasked with identifying impactful projects that spotlight the wide range of remarkable people, including museum staff and volunteers, who bring museums to life by engaging with communities, families and younger visitors, artists and creatives.