The European Museum Forum (shortened as EMF) is headquartered in the United Kingdom and is operated under the endorsement of the Council of Europe. The organization is nonprofit in nature and is Europe’s one of leading organizations established to develop the quality of all museums in Europe. Kenneth Hudson founded the European Museum Forum in 1977 to build networks of inspiration and international interchange of ideas. From its inception, the European Museum Forum has held two major events: the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) and the Council of Europe Museum Prize. It was soon discovered that awards such as these are efficient in tracking and highlighting possible changes in museums all over Europe.
The activity of the European Museum Forum changes from a mere competition for museums to take part in into something that encompasses the diverse kind of challenges that museums have in changing the history of Europe. Throughout the years, the European Museum Forum has managed to influence changes in the landscape of European museum. Quantitative changes involve a significant growth in the number of museums while qualitative changes pertain to the way those museums are operated professionally and perceived by the public.
As a matter of fact, the European Museum Forum pays a close attention to those changes in addition to several other trends and tendencies. The European Museum Forum often becomes the first party that comes up with a new way to protect and interpret heritage and new methods to operate museums—even before those museums get endorsed by organizations of intergovernmental nature and the community of professionals alike. The European Museum Forum was a strong supporter of smaller museums from the late 70s to the 80s. Those museums were thought to hold an important role in changing the way museums are organized and operated.