Jessica Morgan named new Tate director – accepts significant pay cut to take role
Jessica Morgan, former Dia Art Foundation director, has been appointed as the new head of Tate. She agreed to a substantial salary reduction to return to the institution where she once worked as a curator.
Jessica Morgan has been confirmed as the new director of Tate, marking her return to the arts organization where she served as a curator for over a decade. She succeeds Maria Balshaw, who left this spring after nine years in charge.
Morgan currently leads the Dia Art Foundation in New York, a position she has held since 2015. Her salary at Dia was reportedly much higher than the £220,000–£225,000 Balshaw earned at Tate. Tate chair Roland Rudd acknowledged that Morgan accepted a “very big pay cut” to take the job, saying he paid her the most possible under the constraints he faced.
Described by Tate as an “agent of change,” Morgan will need to navigate a difficult financial landscape, improve low staff morale, and address fluctuating visitor numbers. Rudd told the Guardian that Morgan will “question a lot of things” and has a talent for bringing people along with her ideas.
Morgan called her appointment an immense privilege, stating that Tate is the “world’s foremost institution for international modern and contemporary art and for British art.” She noted that her time as a curator at Tate deeply informed her work at Dia, where she placed artists and the public at the center of operations.
Tate has faced challenges in recent years, including pandemic-related financial hits, redundancies, restructuring, and culture war battles that left staff morale low. However, recent exhibitions such as Tracey Emin’s retrospective, Frida Kahlo’s record-breaking show, and Ana Mendieta’s critically acclaimed display have brought positive attention.
Morgan studied art history at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute of Art. She built a reputation for nurturing talent from the Middle East, South Asia, South Korea, and Latin America. Her appointment has been widely welcomed.
She will assume the role in January, with interim director Karin Hindsbo leading until then. Morgan’s appointment was one of the final tasks completed by Keir Starmer as prime minister.
