‘We knew that we had created something special!’ York Art Gallery and Kaiser Chiefs win top award

York Art Gallery’s collaboration with indie rock band band Kaiser Chiefs has won a national award.

The exhibition When All is Quiet: Kaiser Chiefs in Conversation with York Art Gallery won the Partnership of the Year Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards which were broadcast to the world through Facebook and YouTube last night (Tuesday).

The exhibition saw the Kaiser Chiefs explore the boundaries between art and music, using the gallery’s collections as a starting point.

It was seen by more than 25,000 people during its run between December 2018 and March 2019,

Anna Preedy, director of the annual Museums + Heritage Awards said about the exhibition: “Collaboration is increasingly important and here we have a project which is the definition of a true partnership, achieving something which neither York Art Gallery nor Kaiser Chiefs could not have done on their own.

“Their collaborative project, When All Is Quiet, was bold in its creativity and hugely inspiring – a very worthy winner!”

Bold and brave

Reyahn King, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said they were thrilled to win the award.

“The exhibition was bold and brave in its approach, with our curators and Kaiser Chiefs working closely to create a unique experience which presented our collections in new and innovative ways.

“It was fantastic to work in partnership with them on the project and to create something which proved so popular with a wide range of audiences.”

Vijay Mistry from Kaiser Chiefs said: “Wow!! Thanks so much for this award, it’s really greatly received especially at this challenging time.

“We knew that we had created something unique and special and it’s amazing for that to have been recognised. Huge thanks to York Art Gallery for the collaboration and massive thanks to everyone involved, your contributions were priceless.”

The award was presented virtually on the Museums + Heritage’s Facebook and YouTube channels because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The exhibition was shortlisted for the Partnership of the Year Award alongside:

• Royal Collections Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and The University of Birmingham 
• Lichfield Cathedral 
• Oxford University Gardens, Libraries & Museums (GLAM) and the Iffley Academy Partnership 
• National Galleries Scotland and North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership.