London had a surprise winner this year in the Leading Culture Destinations of the Year - Restaurant category. The little-known Garden Café at The Garden Museum by Lambeth Palace fought off stiff competition from around the world to take home the accolade of being the best place to dine in a cultural space. Judges including contemporary artist Arik Levy and designer/sculptor Carlo Brandelli praised The Garden Cafe for its design, flair and innovative thinking in making culture more accessible for everyone by blending the food, art, architecture and history together. London’s V&A Museum shop was shortlisted for Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Shop category but lost out to MUMOK in Vienna, Austria and none of London’s cultural institutions made the shortlist in for their exhibitions, design or collections. With recent news highlighting that London’s top seven institutions saw their visitor figures fall by over a million people in just four years, these are challenging times for the capital and winning just one award is a far cry from last year when it was the overall winner thanks to the opening of Design Museum.

Two French locations were recognised for their cultural achievements. The New Culture Destination of the Year – Europe award was presented to the Fondation Carmignac due to its stunning museum located on Porquerolles Island which includes over 300 works from leading post-war and contemporary artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, Marlene Dumas,

Alexander Calder and Alighiero Boetti among various others. Chateau La Coste in Provence was recognised as the Art Hotel of the Year (presented by Avis); The property’s 200-hectare estate tantalises the eyes and taste buds by combining art from contemporary artists, such as Tracey Emin and Ai Weiwei, with a superb selection of wine.

Canada was another double winner with Fogo Island taking home the accolade of Best Cultural District given their achievements to promote their destination as a must-see for minimalist architecture enthusiasts. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto was awarded the Best New Culture Destination of the Year - North America due to its fascinating 55,000sqft purpose-design space which includes dedicated studio space for emerging artists.

The new Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town was unanimously selected by the jury as the New Culture Destinations of the Year – Africa / Middle East given its breath-taking design by Thomas Heatherwick, commitment to African contemporary art and outstanding local engagement with the V&A Waterfront community. South Africa was also recognised as the Best Luxury Destination with judges noting that it offered a holistic approach to luxury including an incredibly rich selection of nature focused experiences, excellent hospitality and culinary options as well as unique cultural destinations.

The winner of Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Digital Experience was Japanese art collective teamLab, which recently opened the world’s first digital art museum in Tokyo’s Odaiba. The impressive 10,000sqm space includes 50 technicolour digital installations which are powered by 520 computers and 470 projectors and are designed to dissolve the boundary between visitor and artwork through interaction.

Presented by SunX, the Climate Smart Award went to the Science Express in India, a travelling exhibition dedicated to educating youngsters on the challenges and complex make-up of climate change. Over the past year, this initiative reached over two million visitors and crossed 20 states.

Applauding top cultural travel influencers, Avis presented The Art Weekenders with the Cultural Nomad of the Year award. Set up five years ago by Netherlands-based couple Pal and Lydian, The Art Weekenders combine their passion for art, photography, design and architecture with travel. Judges praised their bitesize reviews of emerging artists and collections primarily within the Netherlands and across Europe.

Florian Wupperfeld, Co-founder of Leading Culture Destinations, commented: “We live in an incredibly exciting time of cultural awakening across the globe, with an increasing number of cultural spaces opening in new and sometimes unexpected locations. These new developments provide an interesting backdrop to the latest news for cultural stalwarts such as London, however, which is reporting declining visitor numbers to many of its leading museums and art galleries. British institution The National Portrait Gallery reported a 10% drop in visitors last year and even the British Museum is experiencing leaner times with an 8% decrease in figures. Last year London had two very worthy winners in the Design Museum and the British Museum however this year, despite numerous nominees in the shortlist including the Hayward Gallery and Charles I exhibition at the Royal Academy, other destinations are flexing their cultural muscles and are really wowing visitors with some incredible offerings – TeamLab stunning digital exhibition in Tokyo and the moving Who By Fire installation in Valletta, this year’s European Capital of Culture, are two such examples.

I am proud to live in London and still believe that the UK capital boasts an incredible array of museums, art galleries and architectural wonders but as demonstrated by this year’s awards, it’s got a way to go to find new ways of attracting visitors. The Garden Museum is the perfect example of how to inspire people to visit, by creating a showstopping place to eat. As galleries and museums have to contend with festivals and live shows nowadays, having stand out really is key. I was really excited when earlier this year Mayor Sadiq Khan launched his Culture Seeds initiative to support creativity in all of London’s communities and believe it is steps like this that will make a huge difference to ensuring London regains its status as a cultural and creative global leader. Culture is perhaps the key driver for travellers on city breaks and governments around the worlds are investing heavily on cultural experiences for in bound visitors. This is just the beginning of a huge global trend since visitors want to re-localize through culture after being globalised through brands. Which is why I feel that The Leading Culture Destinations Awards are increasingly important, as they celebrate the outstanding variety of enriching cultural experiences that can be found throughout the world, as well as highlighting the value of cultural tourism, both from a domestic and international
perspective.

Interviews are available with: o Florian Wupperfeld, Co-Founder of Leading Culture Destinations Awards o Julia Kemp, Director of International Leisure & Partnerships, Avis o Dame Gail Lord, President and Co-Founder Lord Cultural Resources o Geoffrey Lipman ICTP President and Co-Founder SunX Programme o Selected winners

The winners for the Leading Culture Destinations Awards 2018 are:

Leading Culture Destination of the Year – Overall Winner: Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town, South Africa)

Leading Culture Destinations of the Year:

Exhibition o WINNER: Philippe Parreno at Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin, Germany) o Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends at MOMA (New York, USA) o Keith Haring at Stedeljik Museum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Architecture o WINNER: YSL Museum (Studio KO) (Marrakech, Morocco) o Zeitz MOCAA (Heatherwick) (Cape Town, South Africa) o Paracas Museum (Barclay & Crousse) (Paracas, Peru)

Restaurant o WINNER: The Garden Café at Garden Museum (London, UK) o Otium at Broad (Los Angeles, USA) o Aura at National Gallery Singapore (Singapore)

Shop o WINNER: MUMOK (Vienna, Austria) o Gallery & Co. at National Gallery Singapore (Singapore) o V&A (London, UK)

Digital Experience o WINNER: TeamLab Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan) o Pepper programme at Smithsonian (Washington DC, USA) o Cooper Hewitt - Immersion Room (New York, USA)

New Culture Destinations of the Year

Europe: o WINNER: Fondation Carmignac (Porquerolles Island, France) o The Marshall House (Reykjavik, Iceland) o National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens, Greece)

North America o WINNER: Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto, Canada) o ICA at VCU (Richmond, USA) o Remai Modern (Saskatoon, Canada)

Latin America o WINNER: Paracas Museum (Lima, Peru) o Museum of Underwater Archaeology (Campeche, Mexico)

Africa / Middle East o WINNER: Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town, South Africa) o Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, UAE) o YSL Museum (Marrakech, Morocco)

Asia Pacific o WINNER: Tai Kwun (Hong Kong) o Yayoi Kusama Museum (Tokyo, Japan) o Design Society, Shekou (Shenzhen, China)

Soft Power Destinations of the Year:

Best Activation o WINNER: Bursting at the Seams: Philippine Detention Centers, Ayala Museum – (Makati, Philippines) o Susan Philipz - Who by Fire (Valletta, Malta) o Deaccessioning to Diversify, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, USA)

Best Cultural Organisation o WINNER: Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) o Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, UAE) o Museum of Vancouver (Vancouver, Canada)

Best Cultural District o WINNER: Fogo Island (Newfoundland, Canada) o Knowledge Quarter (London, UK)

o Maboneng Precinct (Johannesburg, South Africa)

The ‘Climate Smart Award’, presented by SunX o WINNER: The Science Express (India) o The Climate Museum (New York, USA) o The Hangzhou Low Carbon Science & Technology Museum (Hangzhou, China)

Emerging Culture City of the Year, presented by Avis o WINNER: Lisbon (Portugal) o Medellin (Colombia) o Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Art Hotel of the Year, presented by Avis o WINNER: Chateau La Coste (Le Puy-Sainte-Reparade, France) o Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris (Paris, France) o Detroit Foundation Hotel (Detroit, USA)

Best Cultural Nomad of the Year, presented by Avis o WINNER: Art Weekenders o Lost With Purpose o Petite Passport o Time Travel Turtle o WanderlustingK o Neil Hennessy-Vass

Experiential Destinations Awards:

Best LGBT Destination o WINNER: Valletta (Malta) o Tel Aviv (Israel) o Seville (Spain)

Best Food Destination o WINNER: San Sebastian (Spain) o Tokyo (Japan) o Bordeaux (France)

Best Luxury Destination o WINNER: South Africa (South Africa) o New Zealand (New Zealand) o Dubai (UAE)

Best Smart Tech Destination o WINNER: Norway o Sri Lanka o Spain

Best Silk Road Destination o WINNER: Uzbekistan o Greece o Turkey

Now in its fifth year, the Leading Culture Destination Awards shine a light on the most exceptional established and emerging
cultural institutions around the world that cultural travellers should be adding to their wishlists. For more information about
the Leading Culture Destinations Awards for 2018, please visit www.leadingculturedestinations.com.

- ENDS -

For PR enquiries, please contact The Brighter Group, a Finn Partners Company, at LCD@finnpartners.com

FLORIAN WUPPERFELD

Florian studied film production at UCLA in Los Angeles before starting his career as a trend scout in 1997, working with Mercedes Benz on the launch of the Smart car. He has acted as a consultant to numerous brands, developing extensive networks with creative communities across the world, including: BMW, Adidas, The Soho House Group, Hermes, LVMH, Colette and The New York Times. He was formally creative and media director for the Soho House Group internationally.

The 2018 Jury

Touria El Glaoui: Director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. http://1-54.com/london/touria-el-glaoui/ Joe La Placa: Director of The Cardi Gallery, Mayfair. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_La_Placa Carlo Brandelli: Designer and sculptor. https://www.carlobrandelli.com Helena Egan: Tourism and place-making specialist. http://gte-forum.com/speaker/helena-egan/ Arik Levy: Contemporary Artist. https://www.ariklevy.fr Maximiliano Arrocet: Director at Amanda Levete Architects. https://www.ala.uk.com/about-us/people/maximiliano-arrocet/ Lutz Henke: Cultural scientist and curator. http://lutzhenke.de Lisa Hilton: Art Historian and writer. http://lisa-hilton.com/about/ Charlotte Colbert: Franco-British artist and filmmaker https://www.charlottecolbert.com/ Eugenio Re Rebaudengo: Art collector and founder of ARTUNER http://www.artuner.com/about/


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