Beamish Wins Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025 Award With Perth Museum Receiving £15,000 As A Finalist

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North was announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025. As a Finalist and the only Scottish Museum shortlisted this year for the world’s largest museum prize, Perth Museum will receive £15,000. The winner was announced by Phil Wang, comedian and judge for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025, at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool this evening, 26 June 2026.

Helen Smout, Chief Executive Officer at Culture Perth and Kinross, said, “We are grateful to be the only Scottish finalist for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025. Even though we didn’t take home the big prize, being shortlisted has already boosted our visitor numbers and profile, and is a testament to the sector-leading work we are doing at Perth Museum. We are very proud of everything we have achieved, and we have so many exciting plans to come. Thank you Art Fund for this amazing opportunity and congratulations to Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, on a well-deserved win.”

Perth Museum, home of the Stone of Destiny, opened in March 2024 following a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall. It tells the story of more than 10,000 years of Scottish and world history through a local lens. Alongside the Stone, the Museum displays Perth & Kinross’s Recognised Collections of National Significance as well as iconic loans and an award-winning temporary exhibitions programme. Perth Museum has welcomed more than 300,000 visitors since opening, exceeding its annual visitor target of 167,000 by 50%.

Councillor Grant Laing, leader of Perth and Kinross Council, added, “The recognition of Perth Museum as a Museum of the Year Finalist has been a win for the whole region. Our ambition was to create a museum that everyone in Perth and Kinross can be proud of and one that encourages more tourism. It is great to see this ambition being realised and recognised by Art Fund.”

Perth Museum was one of five finalists. The other shortlisted museums, all highly commended by the judges, are: Beamish, The Living Museum of the North (County Durham), Chapter (Cardiff), Compton Verney (Warwickshire), and Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast).

Each finalist will receive £15,000. Together with £120,000 received by the winning museum, the total prize money for Art Fund Museum of the Year is £180,000.

The 2025 judging panel, chaired by Art Fund director Jenny Waldman, includes: Rana Begum (Artist), Dr David Dibosa (Director of Research and Interpretation, Tate), Jane Richardson (Chief Executive, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales) and Phil Wang (Comedian, Writer, Actor). The judges visited each of the finalists to inform their decision-making.

The prize is funded thanks to the generosity of Art Fund’s members who buy a National Art Pass. Pass holders enjoy discounts and benefits at the finalist museums and hundreds more across the UK, whilst also supporting Art Fund’s vital work championing and supporting museums.

Art Fund annually shortlists five outstanding museums for Museum of the Year. The 2025 edition recognises inspiring projects and activity from autumn 2023 through to winter 2024. In addition to looking at the overall achievements of the organisation, the judges are tasked with identifying impactful projects that spotlight the wide range of remarkable people, including museum staff and volunteers, who bring museums to life by engaging with communities, families and younger visitors, artists and creatives.

Jenny Waldman, the Art Fund director and chair of the judges, called Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, this years winner, “a jewel in the crown of the north-east” and said the judges were “blown away by the remarkable attention to detail of its exhibits across a 350-acre site and by the passion of its staff and volunteers”. She added: “With three-quarters of adults in the north-east of England saying museums make them proud of where they live, Beamish is a shining example of how museums enrich and celebrate local communities”.

Comedian Phil Wang, a judge for the awards, at a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool, said, “Beamish is a worthy winner of this year’s award,” Wang said. “Our visit was one of the most fun days I’ve had in years. An unbelievable level of commitment from staff, and a jaw-dropping amount of detail ran through everything. They had to drag me kicking and screaming out of there!

Macbeth: An Exhibition is currently on at Perth Museum until 31 August 2025, inviting visitors to explore the real medieval King Macbeth, and the Shakespearean play that made him a household name. From Birnam Wood and Dunsinane Hill, to the Stone of Destiny used to crown the Kings of Scotland, the story of Macbeth is embedded in Perthshire. Visitors can get up close to a never-before-displayed 11^th century sword from the time of the real King Macbeth, a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, and first editions of the key historical texts that inspired the play. Cinema fans will also be in for a treat with costumes worn by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the 2015 film Macbeth on display for the first time. From medieval royalty, to court intrigue, to witchcraft trials, to popular culture, this exhibition examines the enduring influence of Macbeth across the centuries.

In January 2026, Perth Museum will welcome the last letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots on a 3-month loan from National Library of Scotland as part of their Outwith Centenary programme. Written to her former brother-in-law the King of France just hours before her execution on 8 February 1587, this is the longest the precious letter will be on public display for more than 20 years, and the first time it has been seen north of Edinburgh in modern history. The letter will be free to view.