Last night, at a prestigious ceremony at Tate Modern, the Whitworth was awarded the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. The £100,000 prize is the largest arts award in Britain and the biggest museum prize in the world. It is awarded to the museum or gallery in the UK that is judged to have best demonstrated excellence, innovation and imagination.
Photo by Alan Williams
The Whitworth, part of The University of Manchester, reopened its doors on 14 February 2015 following a £15 million redevelopment project by MUMA (McInnes Usher McKnight Architects), that transformed the 125 year-old Whitworth into a 21st century gallery in the park. While it was closed
however, the Whitworth remained conspicuously open, with pop-up projects all over the city and beyond, maintaining established audiences and building new ones.
Photo by Jan Chlebik
Since reopening, its new building has enabled the Whitworth to undertake larger and more ambitious projects, presentations and exhibitions – such as a critically-acclaimed solo exhibition by one of Britain’s celebrated contemporary artists, Cornelia Parker – and it has realised its potential as a major UK cultural destination. Over 200,000 people have visited since 14 February, breaking all previous annual records.
