York Art Gallery’s collaboration with an indie rock band won a prestigious national award at a virtual ceremony on Tuesday.

The exhibition, called ‘When All is Quiet: Kaiser Chiefs in Conversation with York Art Gallery’ won the Partnership of the Year Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards.

The awards ceremony was broadcast to the world through social media platforms, Facebook and YouTube, due to restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anna Preedy, director of the Museums + Heritage Awards, said: “Collaboration is increasingly important and here we have a project which is the definition of a true partnership, achieving something which neither York Art Gallery nor Kaiser Chiefs could not have done on their own.

“Their collaborative project, When all is Quiet, was bold in its creativity and hugely inspiring, it’s a very worthy winner.”

The exhibition, which was seen by more than 25,000 people during its run between December 2018 and March this year, saw the Kaiser Chiefs explore the boundaries between art and music, using the Gallery’s collections as a starting point.

Reyahn King, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said: “We’re thrilled to have won this award.

“The exhibition was bold and brave in its approach, with our curators and Kaiser Chiefs working closely to create a unique experience which presented our collections in new and innovative ways.

“It was fantastic to work in partnership with them on the project and to create something which proved so popular with a wide range of audiences.”

The exhibition was shortlisted for the Partnership of the Year Award alongside competitors including Royal Collections Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and The University of Birmingham, Lichfield Cathedral, Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) and the Iffley Academy Partnership and National Galleries Scotland and North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership.

Vijay Mistry, from Kaiser Chiefs, said: “Thanks so much for this award, it’s really greatly received, especially at this challenging time.

“We knew that we had created something unique and special and it’s amazing for that to have been recognised.

“We want to give a huge thanks to York Art Gallery for the collaboration and massive thanks to everyone involved, your contributions were priceless.”