Alistair Hardaker
Image: Maria Balshaw by Erdem Moralioglu
Tate’s director since 2017 will depart after curating a career-spanning exhibition of Dame Tracey Emin’s work
Maria Balshaw will step down as Director of Tate in spring 2026 after nine years leading the organisation.
Her final project will be curating a career-spanning exhibition of Dame Tracey Emin’s work at Tate Modern in February 2026.
Tate has been approached for comment on interim arrangements and the recruitment process for a permanent successor. Balshaw’s plans following her departure from Tate have not been announced.
Balshaw’s tenure saw her establish an endowment fund for Tate’s long-term financial security, working with Tate’s Chair Roland Rudd, which has secured over £50m of donations to date and was launched at a gala at Tate Modern earlier this year.
Her tenure has overseen major capital projects that will open after her departure. The Clore Garden at Tate Britain will open in 2026, delivered in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society. Tate Liverpool will complete a full transformation in 2027, and renovation work has begun on the Palais de Danse at Tate St Ives.
Under her leadership, Tate has built what it describes as the largest arts membership in the world, with 150,000 Tate Members and 180,000 16- to 25-year-olds in Tate Collective, an initiative launched in 2018.
Balshaw chaired the National Museum Directors Council from 2021 to 2025, helping to secure capital maintenance funding for regional and national museums.
Balshaw said serving as director had been “an absolute privilege”.
“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.
“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 at Tate.”
Roland Rudd, Chair of Tate, said Balshaw had “been a trailblazer” at Tate.
“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.
“Maria has my heartfelt thanks for those achievements and for all her work over the past decade”.
