UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
Media release
Kathy Sykes appointed one of the judges for the 2002 Gulbenian Prize for Museums and Galleries
The judging panel of the first Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is announced today, 22 November 2002. Chaired by Bamber Gascoigne - historian, author and broadcaster - the panel represents a wide range of artistic and academic skills and experience and comprises: Peter Jenkinson, National Director of Creative Partnerships; Anish Kapoor, artist; Joanna Lumley, actress and writer; Professor Kathy Sykes, holder of the Collier Chair in the Public Understanding of Science and Technology at the University of Bristol; Dr Simon Thurley, Director of English Heritage and Eleanor Updale, historian and children's novelist.
The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries, the largest ever arts prize in the UK, is a £100,000 award to be given annually to one museum or gallery, large or small. It will be awarded for the most innovative and inspiring idea - be it an exhibition, new gallery, public programme or important new initiative - developed during 2002. The closing date for submissions is 29 November. More details are available at www.thegulbenkianprize.org.uk
Bamber Gascoigne comments: 'I am delighted to be working with judges of such range and calibre. Each has a special interest in museums and galleries and an enthusiasm for making them relevant to visitors, which I think will be of enormous benefit to The Gulbenkian Prize in its first year.'
The longlist, approximately twelve projects under serious consideration for The Gulbenkian Prize, will be announced in January 2003, and the shortlist will be announced in the spring. The judges will announce the winner of The Gulbenkian Prize at an awards ceremony during Museums and Galleries Month in May.
THE JUDGES
Bamber Gascoigne, Chair of Judges
Bamber Gascoigne is an author and broadcaster who has written and presented many historical documentaries on television. From 1962 to 1987 he was the presenter of University Challenge, and his books include World Theatre, The Great Moghuls, The Christians, Twentieth Century Drama and Encyclopedia of Britain. He has been a Trustee of both the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Royal Opera House. Since 1994 he has been writing a million-word world history for the internet, now published at www.historyworld.net, which won the Education Award in the 2002 New Statesman New Media Awards.
Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor was educated at Chelsea School of Art and has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s. He is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation and has won the Premio Duemila prize, the Turner Prize and received an Honorary Fellowship at the Royal Institute of British Architecture.
Kapoor's work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Tate Collection, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Palacio de Velazquez, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1999, his gigantic Taratantara was commissioned by the Baltic, Gateshead, and was dramatically displayed in Naples in 2000. Most recently, the artist has used the entire length of Tate Modern's Turbine Hall to explore the limits of sculpture and architecture through his new work, Marsyas.
Joanna Lumley, OBE
Joanna Lumley began her career as a photographic model, and became a house model for the late Jean Muir before moving into acting. Her films include On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Shirley Valentine, Mad Cows, Maybe Baby and The Cat's Meow. Her television work includes The New Avengers and Sapphire and Steel - but she is probably best known on television for her role as Patsy in the award-winning series Absolutely Fabulous. Her most recent theatre appearance was at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in a production of The Letter. She has written four books: the autobiography Stare Back and Smile, Forces Sweethearts, Girl Friday, and In the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon. She is married to the conductor Stephen Barlow and lives in London.
Peter Jenkinson, OBE
Peter Jenkinson is the National Director of Creative Partnerships. He was previously the Director of Museums and Galleries in Walsall, West Midlands and with his team opened the internationally acclaimed The New Art Gallery Walsall. Before that he worked in museums in London, Norwich and Weybridge.
Jenkinson is regularly invited to lecture in schools, colleges and universities and to participate in seminars and conferences in the UK and around the world. He has been on the panel of several art awards, including The Royal Academy Charles Wollaston Award, The National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award and the Vivien Duffield Foundation Artworks Award. He was Chair of the Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA), from 1999 to 2001 and was in 1996 elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. He is an Honorary Doctor of the University of Central England and the University of Wolverhampton.
Dr Simon Thurley
Until his appointment as Chief Executive of English Heritage in April 2002, Simon Thurley was the Director of the Museum of London. He was previously the first Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces and has written extensively on Royal Palaces, the English Court and heritage issues, including The Royal Palaces of Tudor England and Whitehall Palace. He has also written many academic articles, and contributed to newspapers and magazines. As well as lecturing all over the world on the royal court and royal palaces, he is a regular presenter on television and has a London history slot on BBC London. He lives in London with the couture milliner Katharine Goodison.
Professor Kathy Sykes
Kathy Sykes is the fifth holder of the Collier Chair in the Public Understanding of Science and Technology at the University of Bristol and is currently researching how visitors use science exhibitions as a visiting research fellow at King's College, London. She is also a freelance science communicator, working with groups like the BBC, the Open University and the new Einstein TV channel, and is Director of the Cheltenham Festival of Science. As Head of Science for the hands-on science centre Explore@Bristol, Kathy was responsible for the overall science content of the centre, which was voted best tourist attraction of the year in 2000. Awarded an Institute of Physics prize for physics communication in 2000, Kathy regularly gives lectures and workshops and is heavily involved in the communication of science to the public through television, radio, talks and exhibitions.
Eleanor Updale
Eleanor Updale studied History at St Anne's College, Oxford before moving into broadcasting as a producer of television and radio current affairs programmes for the BBC. She is the author of a series of historical novels for older children, which begin publication next year. She is studying for a PhD at the new Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London. She is also a trustee of the charity, Listening Books. She is married to the broadcaster James Naughtie.
The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is administered by The Museum Prize, a charitable company created in 2001 by representatives of National Heritage, the Museums Association, the National Art Collections Fund and the Campaign for Museums. These organisations have agreed to put aside award schemes they formerly ran (including the Museum of the Year) and lend their support to this new prize.
The Museum Prize is chaired by Lady Cobham. Trustees of The Museum Prize include representatives of all four founding organisations.
The Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is responsible for grant aid in the UK and Republic of Ireland and runs funding programmes in arts, social welfare, education and Anglo-Portuguese cultural relations. Its publications in these areas are well regarded.
The Foundation's founder, Calouste Gulbenkian, was one of the most distinguished private collectors in the world. The Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon is well-known and loaned several major pieces of Lalique jewellery to the V & A's highly acclaimed Art Nouveau exhibition in 2000 and simultaneously mounted a major exhibition of its treasures at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is supporting The Gulbenkian Prize by guaranteeing prize money of £100,000 a year for the next five years; it is also providing some of the funding for administration.
The Gulbenkian Prize is also supported by DCMS, Re:source and Christopher Ondaatje CBE, who is passionately interested in raising awareness of the range and quality of museums and galleries in Britain.
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Email: public-relations@bristol.ac.uk
Copyright: 2002 The University of Bristol, UK
Updated: Friday, 22-Nov-2002 13:43:56 GMT