Yorkshire Sculpture Park is competing for one of the art world’s big prizes against some of the biggest names in the business.

The park – described as a 500-acre open-air art gallery – is one of six finalists for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2014 and the chance to win a £100,000 prize. Its rivals for the award include the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth and Tate Britain in London.

In summer sunshine, the award judges were given a guided tour of the sculpture park by its founding and executive director Peter Murray.

The independent panel of judges is chaired by Arts Fund director Stephen Deuchar and comprises Wim Pjibes, director of the renowned Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; Royal Academy artist Michael Craig-Martin; Sally Bacon, director of grant-making charity for cultural learning the Clore Duffield Foundation; and Anna Somers Cocks, chief executive of The Art Newspaper.

Click here to view a collection of images from exhibitions at the park.

The sculpture park at West Bretton presents work by artists from around the world set in 500 acres of historic parkland as well as five indoor galleries with the emphasis on “great art for everyone”.

The Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year, awarded annually with a value of £100,000, was established in 2003 to recognise the very best of the UK’s internationally acclaimed museums. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on July 9 at the National Gallery in London.

The other finalist museums are Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, East Sussex; Hayward Gallery, London; and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich.

The sculpture park’s entry highlighted its activities during 2013 – the busiest-year ever for the venue, which brought exhibitions by acclaimed artists such as Yinka Shonibare, Amar Kanwar and Hans Josephsohn, to 350,000 visitors.

The park also attracted almost 45,000 learners in 2012/13 for tours, workshops and events as well as developing outreach projects to bring art to hard to reach groups.

Improvements were also made to the historical features of park, including the estate’s 18th century chapel where a nine-month, £500,000 restoration project has transformed the chapel into a versatile gallery space. The building re-opened to the public last month with an exhibition by world renowned artist Ai Weiwei.

 

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