Tate Visitor Numbers Dip, Director Cites Pandemic and Brexit

Debate Erupts Over Causes for Declining Attendance

Tate’s director points to post-pandemic recovery challenges and the impact of Brexit for a recent dip in visitor numbers, while critics argue for a re-evaluation of exhibition appeal.

Tate Director Responds to Attendance Figures

Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate, has responded to recent reports concerning visitor numbers, suggesting that comparisons to the peak year of 2019 are misleading. She advocates for a more representative benchmark against average attendance figures prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Balshaw highlighted that UK visitor numbers have rebounded to 95% of pre-pandemic levels. Paid exhibition attendance at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain has also returned to those earlier figures. The majority of the remaining shortfall is attributed to fewer international tourists visiting the free collections.

She further noted that Tate’s global reach expanded, with an additional million people engaging with Tate exhibitions worldwide. Despite demographic shifts in European tourism, Balshaw emphasized Tate’s success with local audiences, citing 76,000 visitors to Tate Modern’s Birthday Weekend, 70% of whom were under 35. Upcoming exhibitions featuring artists like Pablo Picasso, JMW Turner, John Constable, and Tracey Emin are expected to bolster future growth.

Critics Question Exhibition Strategy

Conversely, Catherine Bliss from Tonbridge, Kent, suggests factors beyond Brexit and COVID-19 are at play. She argues that Tate has not captured public imagination with its exhibition offerings since the 2000s and 2010s.

“Where are the shows of the magnitude of Cruel Tender that shed new light on what a photograph could be and do? Nor has there been anything to match the gutsiness of the Mona Hatoum retrospective, the delight of Christian Marclay’s The Clock, the immersiveness of Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project or the political cogency of Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds.”

—Catherine Bliss, Resident

Bliss observed a lack of contemporary art exhibitions that have recently ignited public interest, apart from the Lynette Yiadom-Boakye portrait show at Tate Britain and El Anatsui‘s pieces in the Turbine Hall. She also commented on the diminished profile of the Turner Prize, which was once a significant cultural talking point.

The debate comes as the Victoria and Albert Museum reported a 13% increase in visitor numbers for the year ending March 2024, reaching 4.1 million visitors, indicating a strong recovery for some cultural institutions in the UK. (V&A Annual Report 2023-24)

Bliss concluded by stating the current need for a dynamic art and public gallery scene to stimulate discussion on critical issues.