'The Signs Are Not Good for Museums Politicians Only Think in the Short Term' ; Tate Is in Crisis, Now Relying On Artists' Donations to Bolster Its Collection. And the Future Looks Bleak, Says Its Director, Nicholas Serota

Evening Standard - London › November 12, 2004

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Summary

Let down: "It is disappointing," says Serota, "after ministers have made comments about it being the turn of museums" SUCCESS breeds success.

Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, might beg to differ. Try captaining a national museum as he has since 1988. You run a tight ship, modernise, expand, press all the correct education and outreach buttons and achieve record-breaking visitor numbers. You mount shows so successful that you attract, in the case of Olafur Eliasson's misty, manmade sunset at Tate Modern, up to 30,000 people a day. Yet still your grant dwindles and you have, in effect, to go begging for the stuff that justifies your existence: contemporary art.

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Extract

'The Signs Are Not Good for Museums Politicians Only Think in the Short Term' ; Tate Is in Crisis, Now Relying On Artists' Donations to Bolster Its Collection. And the Future Looks Bleak, Says Its Director, Nicholas Serota

Despite the triumph of Tate Modern, a personal dream of Serota's, opened in 2000 and quickly rated the most popular art museum in the world, the Tate (Britain, Modern, Liverpool and St Ives) collectively has faced ongoing financial crises, with another looming.

Art market prices soar. Last month, 23 British artists - including P...

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