Manchester Art Gallery is shortlisted for national award

Manchester Art Gallery has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Awards, thanks to its welcoming and engaging approach to catering for family visitors.

Manchester Art Gallery is popular with families all year round. They love its family-friendly displays and exhibitions - from the Clore Interactive Gallery, where children and adults can explore real works of art through a range of hands-on activities - to Tony Ross's funny labels written especially for children and which accompany many of the classical artworks on display.

The gallery runs a family arts club on the first Saturday of every month too, as well as regular events during school holidays and on special occasions such as for Chinese New Year. None of the activities or events for families require any knowledge or skill but they often provide participants with something they've made themselves to take home, from decorated umbrellas to alien masks. And the gallery is equally dedicated to ensuring the venue is welcoming for families in all other aspects as well - from the baby changing facilities and buggy accessible displays, to a family-friendly cafe complete with a healthy children's menu.

Speaking about the recent nomination for the award, Assistant Executive Member for Arts and Leisure, Councillor Mike Amesbury commented:

"I am so pleased that the gallery's efforts to welcome families have been recognized. Manchester Art Gallery strives to be accessible to families of all ages and sizes. Their year-round offer of interactive displays, activities, workshops, family-friendly audio guides and backpacks all provide plenty of reasons to visit time and time again. Whenever I visit the gallery, visitors seem to be having such a good time - whether it's just popping in for half an hour or if you're looking for somewhere to spend the best part of the day, I can't recommend the gallery enough."

Families should be particularly looking forward to this year's annual family-friendly summer exhibition, Green Drops and Moonsquirters: The Utterly Imaginative World of Lauren Child. This new exhibition is based on the work of the award-winning author and illustrator whose best-selling books include Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean. And what's more - the exhibition which has been created by Manchester City Galleries for local audiences, will then go on to tour the UK, ensuring it can be enjoyed by even more people across the country too.

The other galleries shortlisted for the award are: Dulwich Picture Gallery (London), Shetland Museum, Weston Park Museum (Sheffield) and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

The Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award is now in its fourth year, run in conjunction with Kids in Museums and The Guardian newspaper. 2008 saw hundreds of entries from across the UK, the shortlist was selected by a panel of esteemed judges:

Liz Forgan, Chair Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scott Trust

Mark Taylor, Director, Museums Association

Anra Kennedy, Head of Learning, Culture24

Melissa Denes, Arts Editor, Guardian

Mark Brown, Arts Correspondent, Guardian

The shortlisted museums will now be visited by families, unannounced, who will road test them against the Kids in Museums Manifesto. The winner will be announced in the Guardian on Thursday 1 May.

For more information visit http://www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk/

and www.manchestergalleries.org/families

For further information please contact Kate Jones at Fido, tel 0161 274 3311