For the European Museum of the Year Award, the Museum was selected from 49 nominated museums from 24 countries. In its report, the Jury highlighted not only the core exhibition and the architecture, but also the Museum’s overall activity. The Museum received the EMYA Award during a ceremony in San Sebastian in Spain on 9 April.
The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) - founded in 1977 - recognises excellence in the European museum scene and encourages innovative processes in museums aimed at opening up collections for their use and benefit of society.
In its report, the EMYA Jury highlighted POLIN Museum’s outstanding educational and outreach programme. The EEA and Norway Grants have contributed nearly €4 million to the education and outreach programme in the period 2009-2014 through the ‘Jewish Cultural Heritage’ project. Among the supported activities are workshops, lectures, temporary exhibitions and the mobile educational exhibition ‘Museum on Wheels’, as well as educational activities aimed particularly at children and young people.
“We are very proud of this award. It’s a great motivation for us to work even harder to achieve our goals. We were very glad to see that the Jury gave special attention to our comprehensive educational and outreach programme. This programme wouldn’t even be possible without the support of the EEA and Norway Grants,” said Łucja Koch from POLIN Museum.
The European Museum Academy Prize
In the beginning of May, POLIN was awarded yet another prestigious award - the European Museum Academy Prize - by a group of outstanding European museum professionals. The award ceremony will take place during the Annual General Meeting of the Europeana Network Association in Riga on 8 November.
In the Board's decision it was stated that "POLIN Museum meets the criteria for this prize at its maximum. It is not just an excellent museum but a state of the art cultural institution which reaches diverse publics all over the world. That is why it deserves the title of a 'Total Museum'."
The 'Museum on Wheels', the Virtual Shtetl and the Resource Center were among the activities highlighted in the Board's decision. These activities are all a part of the education and outreach programme first highlighted by the EMYA Jury - implemented with support through the EEA and Norway Grants.
In 2015, around 930 cultural heritage events, attracting more than 100 000 people, took place under the education programme supported by the Grants.
More
Read more about the European Museum of the Year Award 2016
Read more about the POLIN project