‘It's awful', says chairman planning to transform Tate Britain

Telegraph

12 hours ago

Tate Britain's chairman has described parts of the museum as 'awful' as he unveiled plans to set up a £150 million endowment fund to secure its future.
The Tate is offering naming rights to its Turbine Hall for upwards of £50 million as part of the new fundraising drive, with a goal to raise £150 million by 2030.
The museum has already raised £43 million through donations from individuals, foundations and Tate trustees, and it is now appealing to philanthropists from around the world.
It launched the Tate Future Fund with a glossy gala dinner in the Turbine Hall, the vast space at the heart of Tate Modern.
Roland Rudd, the Tate chairman, who is on a mission to transform the museum, said sections of the gallery, known as the home of British art, currently looked 'old' and 'manky'.
'At the moment, let's be honest, when you go to Tate Britain it is awful,' Mr Rudd told The Times.
'You have got these rows of bushes [at the front] and they look very old, they look manky. People tend to relieve themselves behind them.
'And that café at the bottom is dreadful … it has an awful backdrop.'
However, the building's proposed garden, funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation and designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, would be transformative, Mr Rudd said.
The chairman added that the endowment fund would be reserved for acquiring the world's best artworks and curators, but donors could specify where their money would be used.
'The whole thing about the Future Fund is to enable us to ensure we have one of the greatest collections of British modern and contemporary art, and some of the greatest curators, because we are in a global marketplace. We have over 50 curators now and we want to add to that number.
'If people want to endow curators or endow directors, all of this is available. Indeed, if someone would like to name the Turbine Hall, this could also be a big thing.'
Asked how much it would cost someone to attach their name to the hall, Mr Rudd said: 'A minimum of £50 million.'
Tate currently makes around £10 million per year from ticketed exhibitions and £20 million through membership, while 30 per cent of its income is public subsidy.
Maria Balshaw, Tate's director, said that the endowment fund 'will allow us to do the wild and extraordinary things that bring people to Tate in the first place'.
Next year's programme includes major exhibitions of the works of Tracey Emin and Frida Kahlo, while this November, Tate Britain will have a 'grand face-off' between Turner and Constable.
Ms Balshaw said: 'These kinds of exhibitions are absolutely the lifeblood of Tate and they are expensive to put together.'
The museum is now going into 'active campaign mode' to raise the remaining money.
She said: 'We will start to solicit donations from our very extensive international supporter base. We're lucky at Tate that our brand is so internationally known.
'High net worth donors like to be joining something that they know is going to succeed. We've cultivated that foundation through our closest friends, and there's a really amazing group of people that began with our own Board of Trustees giving to the endowment.'
The gala celebrating 25 years of Tate Modern was held for 685 guests, with tables from North America, South Asia, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa.
It was designed to impress: the Pet Shop Boys performed, Ruthie Rogers of the River Cafe provided the food, and Peter Saville and Tracey Emin designed the tablecloths and napkins.
Ms Balshaw said that Tate is now 'in a stable position after a hard few years of recovering from the pandemic'.
She expects the level of government grant-in-aid to remain stable too, adding: 'I fully expect, even in the difficult economic climate, that the government understands the value that museums bring for people.'