Tate appoints Morgan to steer institution through funding crisis

Jessica Morgan, the director of the New York-based Dia Art Foundation, will take over as director of Tate in January. She replaces Maria Balshaw, who stepped down last year, and will oversee Tate Britain, Tate Modern, and satellite sites in Liverpool and St Ives.

Morgan arrives at a turbulent moment for the London institution. Tate has recently grappled with industrial action, staff cuts and declining visitor numbers. Across the UK, national museums are confronting severe funding pressures, exacerbated by the government’s move to explore admission charges for overseas visitors.

Central to Morgan’s mandate will be a major capital campaign. Last year, Tate launched a US-style endowment with a target of raising £150m by 2030. Her previous stint at Tate, from 2002 to 2014, saw her co-found acquisition committees for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

Her reputation as a financier of the arts is well established. A profile in The Gentlewoman noted she is “armed with an American unflappability about asking rich people for money, Jessica proved there that she is one of the great collection-builders of our time.”

Beyond fundraising, Morgan brings a distinct curatorial philosophy rooted in her Cambridge and Courtauld Institute training. During her nine years leading Dia, she increased the representation of women artists in the collection from 6.8% to 29%. She told The Art Newspaper that when she arrived, the foundation was “the epitome of a dead-white-male institution.”

Morgan has previously dismissed the commercialism of the 1990s Young British Artists movement, telling The Gentlewoman: “I found it cynical. What it was saying about English culture and society felt like it was taking us in a direction I was not excited about.” Earlier this year, she highlighted the need for institutional focus.

She said it is “very helpful to be somewhere where you have a sense of purpose in the face of an art world that has become so immense and so unwieldy, and frankly, also so driven by fashion, commerce, and external forces.”

British artist Cornelia Parker praised the appointment, noting Morgan’s “experience, ambition, flair and daring, attributes which I’m sure she will put to good use in her new role." Turner prize winner Steve McQueen stated: “I greatly admire Jessica; the way she strives to achieve the best for the artists she works with, her knowledge and belief in excellence are so impressive.”

Morgan herself called the role an “immense privilege.” She added: “Tate is undoubtedly the world's foremost institution for international modern and contemporary art and for British art, leading the field through its collection and exhibition programme.”