Maria Balshaw, who has helmed Tate since 2017, will step down from her role next spring, the museum has announced.
‘It has been an absolute privilege to serve as Director of Tate over this last decade and to work with such talented colleagues and artists,’ Balshaw said in a statement. ‘With a growing and increasingly diverse audience, and with a brilliant forward plan in place, 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.’
During her nine-year tenure, Balshaw has overseen the museum’s exhibition programmes, acquisitions and well as its development and international partnerships. Over the years she sought to diversify the range of artists shown at the institution, while her new acquisitions have aimed to bring greater gender balance and geographical breadth to Tate’s collection.
Recent highlights of exhibitions during her leadership range from Leigh Bowery and Isaac Julien to Emily Kam Kngwarray and Yoko Ono.
Despite reports of post-Covid decline in visitors numbers, Tate remains the most visited modern art museum in the world as of 2025 and has built the largest arts membership totalling 150,000. In 2018, Balshaw launched the Tate Collective, which affords £5 tickets to young members aged between 16 to 25.
Balshaw’s last project at the museum will be a retrospective of Tracy Emin at Tate Modern, set to open to the public in February 2026.
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