Blists Hill Victorian Town, one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums, is one of eleven institutions long-listed for the £100,000 Art Fund Prize, the UK’s largest single arts prize. The long list has been selected by a panel of Judges chaired this year by broadcaster Kirsty Young.

Traditionally the long list comprises ten, but for the 2010 Prize eleven institutions have been nominated, attesting to the high quality and volume of applications received.

Blists Hill Victorian Town is the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust’s largest site totalling 54 acres, and presents life in a typical town of the East Shropshire Coalfield around 1900. Blists Hill is brought to life through a unique mix of first and third-person interpretation, combining the efforts of costumed museum staff, professional actors and volunteers. The £12 million development of Blists Hill has seen the creation of a landmark Visitor Centre and World Heritage Site exhibition, a new street of shops and trades, a clay-mining experience, a narrow gauge railway and an incline lift.

Of the nomination, Barrie Williams Chairmann of The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust said: “We are thrilled to have been long-listed for the prestigious Art Fund Prize 2010 and excited to be amongst such illustrious company. Blists Hill Victorian Town is the jewel in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and we hope this will encourage many more people to discover it for themselves.”

The £100,000 prize is awarded to the museum or gallery for a project completed in the last year, that the Judges deem demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence. The Prize, which has been sponsored by the UK’s leading independent art charity, The Art Fund, for three years, aims to increase public appreciation and enjoyment of the UK’s museums and galleries.

This year two new institutions are celebrated through nomination; Great North Museum in Newcastle and Towner in Eastbourne. The long list includes Britain’s oldest public museum, The Ashmolean, as well as the rescue and restoration of The Leach Pottery in St Ives, the world’s most influential studio pottery established by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada in 1920. Following a three year development, The Ulster Museum in Belfast also features.

The eleven long-listed museums and galleries are:

– The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

– Blists Hill Victorian Town, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust

– Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle

– Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, for Henry VIII: heads and hearts

– The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry

– The Leach Pottery, St Ives

– The National Army Museum, London, for Conflicts of Interest

– The Natural History Museum, London, for the Darwin Centre

– The Royal Institution of Great Britain, for Science in the Making

– Towner, Eastbourne

– The Ulster Museum, Belfast

Kirsty Young, Chair of the Judges comments: “My fellow Judges and I deliberated passionately and at length, and even then it was impossible to select less than eleven for the long list. The quality of applications was simply outstanding. We are delighted with our selection and feel that this year’s long list demonstrates a snapshot of the UK’s incredible cultural offerings.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of The Art Fund, comments: “This year’s long-listed museums and galleries have shown such depth of imagination and drive; they are a testament to the wealth of culture on offer right across the UK. I for one can’t wait to see how the judges’ journeys unfold from now until the end of June when the winner is announced.”

The Judges will travel the UK to visit each of the eleven long-listed museums and galleries before selecting a short list of four, to be announced at the end of May 2010. The winner of the £100,000 prize will be announced on Wednesday 30 June 2010 at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.

Vote for Blists Hill Victorian Town and leave comments for the Judges on the Art Fund Prize website.