Grayson Perry on his way to York thanks to Tweeting teddy bear

York’s venerable museums will never have experienced anything quite like it. Grayson Perry, the prize-winning, cross-dressing artist is on his way to play hide and seek with a giant teddy bear.

Why? Because we want him too. More than 5,000 people for Grayson to come to the special event at the Yorkshire Museum on May 15 in the Museums at Night Connect10 competition.

Four museums were battling it out to win Grayson but the Yorkshire Museum topped the vote, ahead of the Freud Museum, Courtauld Gallery and the Museum of Soho – all in London.

This followed a Twitter campaign by York Museums Trust, led by Padmin Bear, one of the teddies in the trust’s collection. Padmin visited the Jorvik Viking Centre, the Theatre Royal panto and other city institutions, Tweeting all the time as @MuseumBear.

Grayson agreed to put Yorkshire Museum on his shortlist of potential venues to visit because he liked the idea of a giant game of teddy bear hide and seek.

His own childhood teddy and muse Alan Measles sometimes features in the potter’s work.

Grayson, 53, is from Chelmsford, Essex. He is best known for his ceramic vases and the fact that he sometimes dresses as his female alter-ego, Claire.

In 2003 he won the Turner Prize, and last year gave the prestigious Reith Lectures on BBC Radio Four.

“We are absolutely delighted that Grayson Perry is coming to the Yorkshire Museum,” said Gaby Lees, assistant curator of art learning

“Our bear campaign really seemed to capture the imagination of people and we would like to thank everyone who voted for us.

“The results show that we had nearly 5,500 votes – the most any museum has ever got in the history of the Museums at Night competition.

“We will now work with Grayson to plan the fabulous teddy bear themed free event, which will take place in May.”

• Museums At Night is the annual after-hours festival of arts, culture and heritage when hundreds of museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage sites open their doors for special evening events. It takes place over the weekend of Thursday 15 – Saturday 17 May 2014
• See also ‘Bring Grayson Perry to York’: campaign to lure cross-dressing potter to city