BRADFORD’s Peace Museum has been shortlisted for a national award.

The city centre museum was nominated for The Best Small Museum Project Award at the Museum Association’s Museums Change Lives Awards 2021, which celebrate the achievements of museums that are making a difference to the lives of their audiences and communities across the UK.

Peace OUT, a 2019 exhibition by the Peace Museum, which has been developed into an online and travelling exhibition for 2021, has been recognised alongside projects from The Scottish Crannog Centre and The Stirling Smith.

This year’s awards will take place in Liverpool on Monday 8 November as part of the Museums Association’s annual conference.

Peace OUT is a project which works with local LGBTQ+ communities in Bradford to co-create exhibitions and events. It explores peacemaking within the LGBTQ+ community and features the work of LGBTQ+ artists and campaigners. Alongside the exhibition, the museum is hosting wellbeing events and reminiscence sessions for older people, and craft activities for youth groups.

Peace Out is currently on display at Bradford’s Bread and Roses Cooperative Café until the October 29, and can be viewed online at

peaceoutexhibition.com.

Peace OUT exhibition opens in Bradford

The Museums Change Lives Awards have four categories: the new Digital Engagement Award, which recognises the best online responses to the coronavirus crisis; the Best Museums Change Lives Project award, which recognises the best project in the past year that reflects

one or more of the themes of the Museums Association’s Museums Change Lives campaign; the Best Small Museum Project, which recognises the best project at museums with an annual turnover of less than £320,000; and the Radical Changemaker award, which recognises the achievements of an individual in promoting one or more of the themes of the Museums Change Lives campaign in their museum.

Shannen Johnson, Learning and Engagement Officer at the Peace Museum said: “We couldn’t be more excited and honoured to be up for this award, particularly given the challenges of the past year. Peace OUT has evolved from a collaborative gallery exhibition into a website, a touring exhibit, and a series of amazing LGBTQ+ focused events.

"Most importantly though, it’s a project which has had community at its heart every step of the way, and we’re so proud of what Peace OUT has become.”

Charlotte Hall, Curator at the Peace Museum said: “The team are so thrilled to see Peace OUT being celebrated, and even more excited that the work of our collaborators in the local LGBTQ+ community is being recognised. We’ve been able to do so much to document under-celebrated histories throughout this project, and add content about such an important area of peacemaking to our collections.”

The initial Peace OUT exhibition in The Peace Museum galleries was supported with funding from Museum Development Yorkshire. Peace OUT+ for 2021 was made possible thanks to funding from the Art Fund.

The results of this year’s awards will be announced on Monday November 8 as part of the Museums Association’s annual conference.