As Maria Balshaw steps down after nine years as director of Tate, her successor faces the challenge of steering the institution through financial difficulties and low staff morale. Roland Rudd, chair of Tate, insists the organisation is thriving, citing recent exhibition successes and record visitor numbers. However, behind the optimism lies a period of redundancies, restructuring, and culture war battles that have left some staff describing the institution as an unmanageable ‘beast’.
Rudd, speaking from his office on the Thames, highlighted achievements including 270,000 visitors for the Turner and Constable show at Tate Britain, and 125,000 paying visitors for Tracey Emin’s exhibition at Tate Modern. Total visitor numbers for the year ending March reached 6.2 million, up 200,000 from the previous year, with 155,000 members – the largest membership of any cultural institution in the UK.
Despite these successes, Balshaw’s departure after nine years – she had previously stated a ten-year limit – comes at a time when Tate is still recovering from the pandemic’s financial impact. Multiple rounds of redundancies and restructures have taken a toll, with one senior staff member describing morale as ‘on the floor’. Rudd acknowledges the need for a positive narrative as he searches for a new director.
Balshaw, the first woman to lead Tate and an outsider to the institution, was praised for her ‘charm, guts and skill’ during her tenure. She defended her credentials against critics who questioned her lack of art history background, noting that she quickly established herself with curators through her academic knowledge. Her successor will need to forge a fresh financial and cultural path for the organisation.
