Culture News

Tate names Dia's Jessica Morgan as director: a 'very big pay cut' and a bruised institution

Tate confirmed on July 22 that Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York since 2015, will become its new director, replacing Maria Balshaw. Morgan, 57, worked at Tate as a curator for more than a decade, The Guardian reported. She starts in January; the interim director, Karin Hindsbo, runs Tate until then.

The Guardian led on pay. Dia's tax filings show Morgan was paid $814,000 in 2025, far more than the £220,000–£225,000 Balshaw earned at Tate, and chair Roland Rudd confirmed she was accepting a “very big pay cut”. The paper described an organisation still recovering from pandemic losses, redundancies and low staff morale, though recent shows on Tracey Emin and Frida Kahlo sold well.

“She’s an agent of change, but she takes people with her” — Roland Rudd, Tate chair, via The Guardian

The Art Newspaper concentrated on her career and the job's pressures. It noted she was artistic director of the 10th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea in 2014, co-founded Tate acquisition committees for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, and raised the share of women artists in Dia's collection from 6.8% to 29%. It listed the problems awaiting her across four sites in London, Liverpool and St Ives: falling footfall, a planned £150m endowment by 2030 and a government idea to charge overseas visitors at national museums.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the pay gap and staff morale at a “bruised” Tate.
• The Art Newspaper — her curatorial record, with Asia and the Middle East to the fore, and the financial to-do list.

Where the numbers differ: The Guardian says Balshaw left “this spring”; The Art Newspaper says she stepped down in 2025. The Art Newspaper also specifies that Morgan starts in January 2027.