Tiny Yorkshire museum shortlisted for prestigious arts prize

Craven Museum is nearly 100 years old but recently underwent refurbishment

A tiny museum has sparked a wave of excitement in its North Yorkshire market town home, after being shortlisted for a prestigious award.

Craven Museum, in Skipton, is one of five contenders for the title of Museum of the Year 2024, against titans such as London's National Portrait Gallery,

Staff said a recent investment project had lifted the previously "cluttered" museum into the local gem it is today.

The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony in London on 10 July.

Volunteers said they were shocked but delighted when the shortlist was announced, pitting the Craven Museum against the Young V&A, Manchester Museum, Dundee Contemporary Arts and the National Portrait Gallery

"One lady told me that she thought it would be lovely if we were mentioned, when she heard the shortlist on the radio," lead museums curator, Jenny Hill, said.

"Then she actually heard our name and was over the moon. That really gave us a boost."

Craven Museum is up against well-known museums such as the National Portrait Gallery for the annual award

Craven Museum, tucked away in Skipton Town Hall, has been there for almost 100 years. It documents the area's rich history, exhibiting Neolithic skulls and Roman treasures in a series of themed displays.

The star object of the collection, however, is a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio.

"We are believed to be one of only four [establishments] to have a copy on permanent display in the world," explained Danielle Daglan, head of culture and archives at North Yorkshire Council.

"There's a bit of a story behind the Folio because the curator who was here before originally thought it was a second folio and catalogued it as such.

"It was actually kept under a sink, in a bag, in a back room."

It was not until a Shakespeare expert traced the Folio back to the museum in 2003, that it was certified as a genuine First Folio.

Since 2011, it has been displayed in a government case and has drawn schools and tourists to the museum.

The Folio was stashed in a bag under the sink before its authenticity was uncovered in 2003

Ms Daglan was the lead on the museum's redevelopment before it reopened to the public in 2021.

The multimillion-pound project transformed the space, with the aim of making it accessible to everyone with easy-to-read displays and interactive audio.

All of the descriptions are accessible to anyone with a reading age of 10 or above, and Ms Daglan believes it is this accessibility that has made Craven Museum stand out against its competitors.

"We believe that everyone has the entitlement to high-quality cultural experiences - with focus on access," she said.

"You aim for this kind of thing, but you don't assume that it's going to happen - you hope for it."

Danielle Daglan takes pride in Craven Museum's accessibility

Any publicly accessible museum, gallery, historic house or library/archive in the UK can apply for the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, and so, like many others, the Craven Museum threw its hat in the ring, Ms Daglan said.

The Skipton museum was longlisted in a group of 10, prior to attending an interview and being shortlisted as one of the five finalists.

"To be in this esteemed company is just phenomenal for a small museum like ours," said Ms Daglan. "It just demonstrates the level of ambition and quality that the team here are delivering."

'Fingers crossed'

The museum, which welcomed 156,391 visitors over the past year, has already benefitted from the buzz of the nomination, with a surge in visitors.

Ms Daglan said people had been ringing in to say congratulations and there had been an "outpouring" of support on social media.

Should the Craven Museum clinch the award, the £120,000 prize money will help secure its future - but just being shortlisted means a guaranteed £15,000 from the Art Fund.

Ms Daglan said: "We don't have a massive operating budget: we're a civic museum, we're free to enter, everything we earn commercially goes back into running what we do.

"We make sure that we can offer as much free, and low-cost activity as possible to our community," she said, adding that any prize money will "go a long way to further our work in terms of access" and everyone had their "fingers crossed" for the announcement in July.