Maria Balshaw to Step Down as Tate Director After Nine Years

Tate director Maria Balshaw, who has led the institution since 2017, will step down next spring. 

In her tenure, Balshaw spearheaded a diverse programme of exhibitions including feminist art survey Women in Revolt (2023), solo exhibits by Leigh Bowery and Emily Kam Kngwarray (both 2025), and most recently Turner & Constable, currently on view at Tate Britain. 

Balshaw’s aim was to ‘engage a wider public, make art accessible to all and deepen learning’, according to a museum statement.

She describes the ‘absolute privilege’ of leading the U.K.’s largest art institution and working with ‘such talented colleagues and artists’. 

‘I feel now is the right time to pass on the baton to a next director who will take the organisation into its next decade of innovation and artistic leadership,’ she says.

Tate’s board chair Roland Rudd called Balshaw a ‘trailblazer’, commenting  ‘she has never wavered from her core belief—that more people deserve to experience the full richness of art, and more artists deserve to be part of that story.’ 

The past year for the institution hasn’t been without controversy. Last month, staff across Tate’s four locations in London, Liverpool, and St Ives voted for industrial action after rejecting the institution’s pay rise offer, following recent redundancies, staff canteen closures, and pension scheme changes. A seven-day strike involving more than 150 workers saw the temporary closure of multiple exhibits.

Balshaw’s final project before her departure is a career survey of British artist Tracey Emin titled A Second Life, which opens on 27 February at Tate Modern and runs until the end of August next year. 

‘My greatest thrill has always been to work closely with artists, and so it is fitting that Tracey Emin’s exhibition at Tate Modern will be my final project.’

Balshaw’s successor is yet to be announced. —[O]

Main image: View of Tate Modern from St Pauls, London. Courtesy Tate. Photo: Tate Photography.