Plymouth Trust wins Art Fund 2026 Museum of the Year | Museums

The Box in Plymouth has won this prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year award, the largest award of its kind in the world, for its “ambitious and welcoming approach”.

Awarding it a prize of £120,000, judges described the fund as “an inspiration in so many ways” and “a true jewel in the South West’s crown”.

The Box is a museum, gallery and archive that tells the story of Plymouth through its collections of more than two million artworks, objects and archival materials.

Since its opening in 2020, it has welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors and has become, according to the jury, “a leading example of what a civic museum can achieve.” It has generated more than £100 million in health and wellbeing benefits, boosted Plymouth’s economy by £244 million, according to a report last year, and is involved with 89% of the city’s schools.

The award was presented on Thursday evening to Victoria Pommery, CEO of Box, by broadcaster June Sarpong, one of the judges, at a ceremony held on board the Cutty Sark, at the Royal Museums Greenwich, in London.

“What stood out strongly with the fund was the sense of pride and connection it created throughout Plymouth,” Sarpong said. “From local groups like the Windrush community to its partnerships with the university, it is a museum that truly belongs to the people it serves.

“With exhibitions that reveal neglected histories and welcoming spaces for learning and creativity, The Box reimagines what being a museum can mean.”

Jenny Waldman, Director of the Art Fund and chair of the judging panel, said the Fund’s social and economic impact demonstrated what long-term investment in culture can achieve.

“They have become more ambitious, more inclusive and more audience-focused,” Waldman told The Guardian. “They continue to innovate, becoming more and more loved and appreciated by their audiences and their main funder, the local authority.”

Museums have a “huge responsibility” to care for collections for subsequent generations, she said, and must also think about how to present them in inspiring and engaging ways.

Waldman highlighted one of Box’s community programs in the Devonport area of ​​the city. “They sent out a postcard to each resident inviting them into the trust for a community project, and they got a tremendous response, collecting a number of artefacts from the social history of the group.”

The Box opened after a £48 million capital investment and aimed to be “known nationally and loved locally”. Since then, Plymouth collections have been used to narrate the city’s past while amplifying overlooked voices.

Its 2025 program included an exhibition entitled When Will We Be Good Enough? by Othman Yousefzadeh, who dealt with colonial history, and Jill Bradley’s Running and Back, which explored archives and accessibility.

Jeremy Diller Event Hello Sailor! – Developed with Box as part of its project The Triumph of Art for the National Gallery – it also brings the museum’s collections into the public domain.

This summer, the two major exhibitions are Echoes of Us, showcasing works from the state art collection by artists including Barbara Hepworth and Chris Ofili, and Gillian Ayres: A Life in Color, which spans seven decades of the abstract painter’s work.

The Box was one of five finalists, along with the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge), the National Gallery (London), Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich), and the V&A East Storehouse (London). Each of them will receive £20,000.

“They are innovative, forward-looking and pushing the boundaries of what the museum can and can accomplish,” Waldman said. “It proves that investing in culture delivers economic and social returns.”