British curator Jessica Morgan will succeed Maria Balshaw to come the 10th director of Tate from the start of 2027.

The 57-year-old previously spent 12 years working at Tate in curatorial roles, including as Daskalopoulos Curator of International Art from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, she relocated to New York to lead the Dia Art Foundation, a multi-sited organisation that commissions and organises artist projects and exhibitions, cares for a growing collection of modern and contemporary art, and stewards several major site-specific art installations across the US and Germany.

Roland Rudd, the chairman of Tate, said: “Jessica is an exceptional leader and a deeply respected figure across the sector. Her visionary revitalisation of Dia Art Foundation, as well as her prior experience at Tate and her many years working with artists and institutions around the world, make her the ideal person to lead Tate into a new era.”

Morgan’s tenure begins on 1 January next year, ahead of Tate Liverpool’s reopening later in 2027.

“It is an immense privilege to be asked by the trustees to become the new director,” Morgan said. “Tate is undoubtedly the world's foremost institution for international modern and contemporary art and for British art, leading the field through its collection and exhibition programme.

“My time as a curator at Tate deeply informed my work in the last 11 years steering Dia Art Foundation, with artists and our public always at the centre of what we do. I look forward to this pivotal next stage at Tate, and most importantly, continuing and advancing the incredible work of Tate’s committed and talented team in the years to come.”

Maria Balshaw announced she would leave the multi-site art gallery in December 2025 after nearly a decade at its helm. Karin Hindsbo, the deputy director of Tate and director of Tate Modern, is currently serving as interim director.

Before Tate, Morgan served as chief curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She holds an MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a BA and MA in Art History from Cambridge University. She was a Mellon Fellow at the Yale Centre for British Art, Yale University, and a Contemporary Art Curatorial Fellow at The Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University.