National Heritage Centre misses out on museum of the year award

The director of the National Heritage Centre Chris Garibaldi expressed his pride in the museum and its staff on Wednesday evening following the Art Fund Museum of the Year awards ceremony.

Despite missing out on the £100,000 winning prize which went to The Hepworth Wakefield, the National Heritage Centre received £10,000 in recognition of its achievements at the ceremony at the British Museum.

The National Heritage Centre's silks were worn to victory by Oisin Murphy aboard Melodic Motion at Newmarket on Saturday following a day lease by Qatar Racing.

Garibaldi said: “I’m so proud of the work done by so many people over such a sustained period that led to the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art at Palace House in Newmarket being selected as a finalist for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017.

“We could not have been more excited to have been shortlisted. We would have been bowled over to win but we already considered ourselves winners just to have been selected as finalists in such exalted company."

Garibaldi believes the museum plays a big part in not only raising interest in the sport but also reinvigorating the local economy in Newmarket.

He said: “Being a finalist was an acknowledgement of the powerful role the arts and museums can play in transforming the cultural landscape of an area – this project has been vital to the economic regeneration of Newmarket and involved new and imaginative ways of interpreting collections for the visiting public.

“Giving visitors the opportunity to encounter the equine heroes of the sport is an important example of how museums can be promoted to new audiences without losing the essence of what makes them special.”