![\"Jessica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/89863.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIn the search for the new director of the Tate, one name keeps cropping up: Jessica Morgan\ufeff. \ufeff\ufeffMost agree\ufeff she is the best woman to run \ufeffthe influential British art institution. The \ufeffLondon-born curator \ufeffis the director of New York\u2019s Dia Art Foundation, where she has made her mark as a bold collector and bankable fundraiser.<\/p>\n
So it is all sorted then? Unfortunately not. Although Maria Balshaw, the \ufeffoutgoing director and first woman in the job, steps down this spring, no one seems keen to step into her shoes \u2013 Morgan included.<\/p>\n
The job of leading Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives comes with a colourful palette of problems, from declining visitor numbers to a huge wage bill and a continuing industrial dispute with lower-wage staff.<\/p>\n
The basic salary on offer, at least \ufeff\u00a3125,000 a year before hefty bonuses, is not enticing in comparison \ufeffwith the money paid at similar institutions in the US and Europe. For example, the \ufeffprevious director of \ufeffNew York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), Glenn Lowry, received \ufeff\ufeff$2m a year and \ufeffa rent-free \ufeffluxury apartment.<\/p>\n
As one UK museum director\ufeff said: \u201cJessica is great, but she is going to want to afford to live somewhere decent if she is moving her family over. And she will have to deal with all the difficult issues Maria has faced, including another strike looming in April.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jessica Morgan speaking in Los Angeles in 2013<\/p>\n
Balshaw has blamed the Tate\u2019s troubles on the hit Brexit delivered to the art world, followed by the tourist slump inflicted by the Covid pandemic. Critics have also detected a lack of showmanship<\/a> in some of the exhibitions and some have mocked the decision to re\ufefflabel artwork and put up new displays in the name of cultural sensitivity at Tate Britain.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s like the England football manager\u2019s job. There\u2019s a lot of focus on you, which makes [it] really hard\u2019\u2018It\u2019s like the England football manager\u2019s job. There\u2019s a lot of focus on you, which makes [it] really hard\u2019<\/p>\n Gavin Turk, artist<\/p>\n Further challenges will likely come in the form of the battle for donors and sponsorship now that the National Gallery has torn up an informal agreement not to compete with the Tate by collecting work from the same modern era.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is like the England football manager job now, really,\u201d said Gavin Turk, one of \ufeffthose who rose to fame in the 1990s Young British Artists boom.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of focus on you, which makes running a big organisation really hard. The new director will certainly have to be a \u2018people person\u201d, who supports artists and can convince the public with the shows they put on.\u201d<\/p>\n NewslettersChoose the newsletters you want to receive<\/p>\n Clear, calm analysis on the stories driving the day\u2019s news.<\/p>\n The very best of our journalism, reviews and ideas \u2013 curated each day.<\/p>\n A dispatch from The Observer\u2019s kitchen table \u2013 from Nigel Slater\u2019s recipes to interviews, features and hot tips.<\/p>\n