European Museum of the Year Award 2015
Het Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has been named as European Museum of the Year 2015. The Red Star Line Museum received one of the five Special Commendations from the Judging Panel.
The panel of judges praised the Red Star Line Museum for the way the museum uses its collections alongside clever montage, interactive media, poignant and relevant objects, the museum presents the story of migration through the city and port of Antwerp from 1840 to 1930. It meditates on migration as an intrinsic part of human heritage and includes in its outreach programmes the new immigrant communities in its hinterland.
Local accolade
The museum has had more than 270,000 visitors since it first opened in September 2013. It has already won several awards.
In 2014, it received the Flanders Tourism Award for Best Tourist Attraction. In the Museum Prizes for 2014, an enthusiastic public chose the Red Star Line Museum to receive the Public Prize, and the museum also won the Wablieft Prize for plain language. However, the EMYA award is its first international accolade.
International recognition
We from our part would also congratulate like the Belgian-American fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, who recently received one of the three annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards.
The Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards go to the most successful American immigrants or their descendants, and one of the three winners this year is the Belgian-American fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, who has been closely involved in the launch of the Red Star Line Museum right from the start, providing support and acting as an ambassadress for the project.
On 19 May, the annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards have been presented during a formal gala evening on Ellis Island. Vice-Mayor Philip Heylen was invited to the award ceremony as Diane van Furstenberg's guest, and also signed a cooperation agreement between the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the Red Star Line Museum concerning the exhibition Via Antwerp, which opens on Ellis Island on 26 May next year.
More about the European Museum of the Year Award at www.europeanmuseumforum.info