Nominees for the 2025 Art Fund Museum have been announced, and for four years all five finalists have been located outside London.

The Northern Life Museum in the north of Durham County Beamish won the £120,000 award pot along with Cardiff chapter and Compton Verney of Warwickshire.

The Golden Line Gallery in Belfast and the Perth Museum in Perth and King Rose rounded up the shortlist.

Arts Foundation Director Jenny Waldman said this year’s finalists “a model of the best museums” and “has a close connection to their local community, sensitive to the world around them, and full of vitality and thought.”

“Everyone offers a unique experience that demonstrates the endless creativity and care that makes the museum inspiring and exciting everyone,” she said.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Liverpool Museum on Thursday, June 26, the first event to be held outside the British capital.

Let's take a closer look at the nominees for this year's awards, all of which are now guaranteed to receive at least £15,000.

Beamish, the North Museum of Life In County Durham is an open-air museum that reflects life in northeast England in the 19th and 20th centuries.

It brings Georgian, Edwardian and wartime history to life through an immersive exhibition, where visitors interact with staff and volunteers in costumes.

The judge praised Beamish for continuing his “long-term commitment to protecting local heritage” and its “excellent visitor experience.”

Over the past year, the museum has completed the remastered Beamish project, which is a recreational project that is invested by the community in the opening of the 1950s town and the stale miner's house (AMH), which tells the story of benefits provided to retired miners.

This year, it will also host a Transport Festival (June 24) as part of the National Railway 200 celebration.

chapter It is the International Center for Contemporary Art in Cardiff, which includes galleries, artist studios, theaters and film screenings.

In recent years, the center has commissioned 14 exhibitions from a variety of international artists, including Adham Faramawy, Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye and Abi Palmer, which explore themes from climate crisis to materiality.

The Arts Fund notes how to continue to “continue to jointly create an outstanding program of rich Cardiff cultural landscapes” from printmaking to music.

It offers “the price you can pay” pricing and free community tickets, and recently launched an artist’s living program with free studio space and launched Wales’ largest creative deaf event, the deaf gathering Cymru.

Verney Compton In Warwickshire, there are six works of art, a sculpture park and cafe, set in the 18th-century mansions on the I-level list.

The gallery is described as a “vibrant cultural destination dedicated to making art accessible to all” by connecting it with art, nature and creativity.

Last year, it unveiled sculptures in a park exhibition, including works by artists such as Sarah Lucas, Permindar Kaur, Larry Achiampong, Helen Chadwick and Erika Verzutti.

The venue invites artists and communities to reimagine its 18th-century facade, and its exhibitions also explore the legacy of capabilities such as Brown, Louise Bourgeois and Chila Kumari Singh Burman.

More than 6,000 school children visited and participated in early creative projects, while recent initiatives also include a monthly dementia cafe and an upcoming exhibition of multimedia works, reflecting on Emma Talbot (October 5-May 5).

The jury noted that the museum is committed to "breaking barriers to cultural careers for young people with disabilities."

Contemporary Art Space Golden Line Gallery In Belfast, there are two large galleries, a hub of community engagement and engagement, and the first visual arts library and archives in Northern Ireland.

After closing in 2023, the gallery reopened last year at a new Queens Street address in downtown, hosting exhibitions of artists including Charlotte Bosanquet, Rob Hilken, Graham Fagen, Susan Hiller and Claire Morgan.

It has welcomed over 23,000 visitors since its reopening.

The gallery worked with Translink Ni to help create a public sculpture that combines local narrative and community stories at the rebuilt York York Station.

This summer, it will host video and photography at her exhibition Chaze -Chaze - Share Views (August 21).

Perth Museum One of Scotland's most precious treasures, the new home of "Stone of Destiny" returned to Perthshire more than 700 years later.

Dutch architect Mecanoo has carried out a £27 million development at the former Perth City Hall, and the Citizens Museum opened last year, enabling it to tell stories of Scottish history.

The stone of the experience of fate uses immersive modern techniques to frame controversial objects in the story of the Medieval Boy King of Alexander III.

A new exhibition explores Macbeth's history and heritage (April 25-March 31, 2025).

The museum has been building partnerships with 10 primary schools to help students, teachers and communities connect with their heritage.

Since its opening, the Perth Museum has attracted about 250,000 visitors, thus promoting the local economy.

The Arts Fund is a charity for the National Museums and Gallery.

Its last finalist list was completely ignored by London - many of the largest museums in the United States are historically located - in 2021, when the award eventually won the award at Firstsite in Colchester, Essex.

Waldman added that she hopes this year’s awards will “inspire” people in some of their “extraordinary places” and help them “discover the powerful role they can play in our lives.”

Any of the five museums will win last year’s winner, the Young V&A in London.