Latest news with #RolandRudd
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘It's awful', says chairman planning to transform Tate Britain
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.'
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tate raises £43m from donations as it launches ‘ambitious' endowment fund
Tate has launched an endowment fund and secured £43m from donations in what it calls 'one of the most ambitious cultural fundraising campaigns of its kind in the UK'. Donations to the Tate Future Fund have come from individuals, foundations and Tate trustees, including James Bartos, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Nick Clarry, Mala Gaonkar, Anthony and Sandra Gutman, Jack Kirkland, Jamie and Michael Lynton, the Manton Foundation, Jorge M and Darlene Pérez, Manizeh and Danny Rimer, and Roland and Sophie Rudd. The aim of the campaign is to raise an endowment of £150m by 2030 to help support the Tate's exhibition programme and research in perpetuity. Donors are being solicited from Tate's extensive global supporter network. Tate's director, Maria Balshaw, said: 'There are a number of organisations in the UK that are working hard to create endowments, especially in higher education, but no cultural organisation has done an active campaign like this before. 'Many organisations in the arts sector would really like to have this kind of support. If you look to our North American peers, museums like MoMA, the Met or the Whitney all have very significant endowments. It is what protects them from the vagaries of economic change and allows them to think and plan long term.' The fund was announced by Tate's chair, Roland Rudd, at Tate Modern's 25th anniversary fundraising gala on Wednesday night, which was attended by more than 600 artists and philanthropists. The gala itself raised more than £1m from table hosts and guests, which will be used to directly support the Tate's artistic programme, its collection and its learning and educational activities. The gala followed Tate Modern's anniversary celebrations in May, when more than 76,000 people visited the gallery in a single weekend. More than 70% of those who visited were under 35 years old, and 2,000 of them joined Tate Collective, making it the largest arts membership scheme for young people in the world with more than 180,000 members, Tate said. Balshaw said the Tate's ethics committee helped 'advise on every kind of donation that we get'. Other cultural institutions have recently been urged by pro-Palestine supporters to cut ties with Bloomberg Philanthropies over the company's alleged links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Sign up to Art Weekly Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions after newsletter promotion In September, dozens of film-makers including Mike Leigh, Julia Loktev and James Schamus called on the New York film festival to drop the sponsor. In January, more than 20 artists taking part in an exhibition at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts staged a walkout in support of pro-Palestine demonstrators calling on the organisation to cut ties with Bloomberg Philanthropies. And in May, hundreds of theatre and arts professionals demanded Islington's Almeida theatre end its partnership with the company. Balshaw said Bloomberg Philanthropies supported 'a very wide range of arts organisations in the UK and across the world, and they are already very longstanding supporters of Tate. 'In common with all arts organisations and museums in this country, our ethics committee follows the principles laid out by the Charity Commission, so we are obliged to consider all donations with a presumption that we should accept the money if it's for public benefit.'
Times
14 hours ago
- General
- Times
‘It's manky and awful', says man on mission to revive Tate Britain
Tate Britain may have the beauties of the pre-Raphaelites and the landscape delights of JMW Turner, but according to its chairman, it is 'awful'. Roland Rudd said that parts of the gallery, branded as the home of British art, were not a great location to visit given their 'manky' features. Rudd was speaking as he unveiled plans to create a £150 million endowment fund for Tate, which he said would be reserved for acquiring the world's best artworks and curators. Over £40 million has been contributed to the Tate Future Fund, started by Rudd, 64, who was appointed chairman in 2021 and who said he hoped it would be one of his legacies to the organisation, as well as fixing up Tate Britain. 'At the moment, let's be honest, when you go to Tate Britain it is awful,' Rudd said. '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.
