TextielMuseum Museum of the year 2017!

After a nerve-wrecking voting campaign, the TextileMuseum at Tilburg turned out to be the winner of the BankGiro Lottery Museumprice 2017. The TextileMuseum has gotten 32.155 votes of the total 80.390 votes that have been released to the three nominated museums. With this high amount of votes, the TextileMuseum left their competitors Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam and Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch behind them. By winning the Museumprice, the TextileMuseum is allowed to call itself ‘museum of the year 2017’. They also won an amount of €100.000, which they will spend on a new weaving machine for their visitors. With the weaving machine, visitors are able to make their own design for, perhaps,  a dishtowel at  the museum which they can bring home.

Adriana Esmeijer (director Prince Bernard Culture Fund), Jeroen Branderhorst (BankGiro Lottery) and Siebe Weide (director Museum Association) surprised the TextileMuseum with a check and plaque.

Errol van de Werdt, director of the TextileMuseum, can’t be happier. ‘We are extremely proud that from now on, we can call our museum ‘Museum Of The Year 2017’ and that we can realise our ‘museum dream’. The most beautiful experience of the last couple weeks is that I have seen that everyone who works at and for the museum gave their full commitment to win this price.’’

In this tenth edition of the BankGiro Lottery Museum price a record amount of 80.930 votes have been released. The TextileMuseum has gotten 32.155 votes, there has never been a museum that have reached an amount of votes this high. The TextileMuseum was first place the entire voting period. The museum also succeeded to get even more votes, almost at the end of the voting period. This because of Kingsday, which the king celebrated in Tilburg. Because of the royal visit, the TextileMuseum has gotten extra exposure. The museum also had a huge royal occasion: the clothing that queen Máxima wore at Kingsday was exhibited at the TextileMuseum the day after Kingsday.

The BankGiro Lottery Museum price is being awarded since 1990 and is one of the biggest cultural public awards in the Netherlands. The awards were organised for the tenth time this year. Every year there is a different category, this year category was ‘Design & Fashion’.

The BankGiro Lottery Museum price is an initiative of the Prince Bernard Culture Fund and the BankGiro Lottery, in co-operation with the Museum association. The price is meant to reward museums who distinguish themselves and to address a wide audience. You can find more information at www.museumprijs.nl