Young V&A has been announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024. Dr Helen Charman, Director of Young V&A, was presented with the £120,000 prize – the largest museum prize in the world – by Vick Hope, broadcaster and judge for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, at a ceremony at the National Gallery, London.
Dr Helen Charman, Director of Young V&A, said: “We’re thrilled to win Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024 and to have been part of a shortlist of such brilliant museums changing lives across the UK. This win is a clarion call for the vital role of creativity, culture and play in children’s lives when so many opportunities have been taken away through the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing under-investment in creative education nationally. We recognise the positive impact creative experiences in early years has on young people’s futures - and that’s why we’ll be investing the prize money in founding a creative network and programme for early years providers along the Thames Estuary, where a higher proportion of children live in low-income households than the England average.”
The prize money will enable Young V&A to build on its deeply embedded local community programme, working with some of the country’s most deprived children. From the Isle of Dogs to Southend on Sea and beyond, Young V&A will work in partnership with caregivers, artists, museum professionals and early years educators to expand this programme, and create new cultural and playful learning experiences, using its collection to unleash the power of creativity and its impact on young lives.
Young V&A is a museum sparking creativity now and for the future. Created with children from early years to early teens, it is a place for young people to imagine, play and design, and get inspired by almost 2000 toys, characters, objects and artworks on display from around the world and across history. Rooted in its local community with a 150-year heritage as East London’s first museum, Young V&A strives to energise young creators as well as empower everyone to promote creativity now and for the next generation and support the teaching of art and design education for all.
Jenny Waldman, director, Art Fund and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year, said: “Young V&A is a truly inspirational museum. With a brief from its young co-designers to create ‘the world’s most joyful museum’, Young V&A has achieved that and more. It has radically reimagined the museum with and for young people, creating a museum experience that’s active, empowering and dynamic, centred on learning through play. Young V&A has established a deep engagement with its local community and, at the same time, it has become an international beacon for what a children’s museum can be.
“I give my warmest congratulations to the fantastic team at Young V&A on being crowned Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024. You truly are the world’s most joyful museum and will inspire young people now and for generations to come.”
Vick Hope, broadcaster and judge for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, said: “Young V&A is such a special and unique place, offering an experience for children (and their adults) like no other out there. The museum truly places young people centre stage, encouraging them to play, design and get creative through a fascinating collection of objects and artworks.
"I was inspired by the museum’s vision to become a space for the next generation to feel empowered and to imagine their future; a space that will cement museums as places they belong and feel welcome as they grow up, regardless of their background. In such a short time the Young V&A’s global impact has been really incredible, demonstrating the potential of what museums can be for children around the world – and I can’t recommend it enough for a visit.”
Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said: “Our world-leading museums are a source of creativity and curiosity that can inspire lifelong passions for learning, history and the arts. This year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year was a tough competition with an exciting shortlist representing institutions from across the country. Congratulations to Young V&A on this achievement, recognising their hard work to create a unique space dedicated to young people.”
Young V&A opened on 1 July 2023 following a £13 million capital project to transform the former V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green into a trail-blazing museum of creativity with a brief from the museum's young co-designers to create ‘the world’s most joyful museum’. Young V&A offers three active, innovative permanent galleries (Play, Imagine and Design); a dynamic temporary exhibition space; beautifully restored Grade II listed architectural features; improved retail and café spaces; new accessible routes and facilities, including an accredited Changing Places Toilet (the first and only in Tower Hamlets); and an enhanced and expanded Clore Learning Centre and Creative Studios.
Following opening, Young V&A received overwhelming positive critical acclaim for its ambitious approach to child-centred museum experiences and thoughtful consideration of audience needs. Young V&A welcomed a remarkable 730,526 in its first year of opening – demonstrating its significant appeal, and impact on young people’s lives.
Main Image: Young V&A, Town Square © David Parry courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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