Jessica Morgan Named Tate Director on Major Pay Cut
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- Jessica Morgan has been confirmed as the new director of Tate, returning to the institution where she previously served as a curator for more than a decade and replacing Maria Balshaw, who stepped down this spring after nine years in charge.
- Morgan is taking a "very big pay cut" to take the role, according to Tate chair Roland Rudd; her Dia wages were thought to substantially exceed the £220,000–£225,000 Balshaw earned, with Rudd saying he paid Morgan "the most he could under the constrictions he faced."
- Tate enters the transition bruised by pandemic-era redundancies, restructuring, "culture war" battles, and a senior staffer's description of staff morale being "on the floor," alongside recent wins including the Tracey Emin retrospective, record-breaking Frida Kahlo ticket sales, and the Ana Mendieta show at Tate Modern.
- Morgan, 57, has led New York's Dia Art Foundation since 2015, trained at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute of Art, and built her reputation developing artists from the Middle East, south Asia, South Korea, and Latin America.
- Former Tate Modern director Frances Morris called her "a hugely hardworking individual with a very strong sense of what's right," while Rudd described her as "an agent of change" who "takes people with her."
- Morgan's appointment was one of the last tasks Keir Starmer completed as prime minister; she will begin in January with Karin Hindsbo, the former boss of Tate Modern, serving as interim director until then.
- Tate spans four sites across the country, and the source flags a lingering concern in some quarters that the organization has not found a new direction since Nicholas Serota, who created Tate Modern and led for 28 years, departed.
Why it matters: Tate is handing its top job to a curator-founder known for expanding global representation, but the role comes with a six-figure salary reduction and a mandate to restore staff morale, stabilize finances and resolve criticism that Britain's flagship modern-art institution has drifted since Serota's 28-year tenure.
