Reframing the debate over Tate attendances and exhibitions | Letters

Tate director, Maria Balshaw, responds to reports of a decline in visitor numbers. Catherine Bliss is unimpressed by recent offerings at the galleriesTate Britain’s visitor numbers continue to rise year on year, and Tate Modern is the most visited museum of modern art in the world. Over 6 million people visited a Tate gallery in 2024. Your report (Tate director blames Brexit and Covid for slump in visitors, 29 July) compares our latest attendance figures for Tate Modern and Tate Britain against the most visited year in their history, 2019, when they had 700,000 more visitors than the year before. It would be fairer to compare with an average of annual attendances before Covid.As your article notes, the number of UK visitors to Tate’s galleries has returned to 95% of pre-pandemic levels. Attendances at paid-for exhibitions at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain are also back up to pre-Covid levels. Almost all of the remaining shortfall is in international tourists’ visits to the free collections. However, a further 1 million people engaged with Tate works in exhibitions worldwide. While demographic changes in European visitation have had an impact, our success with local audiences, the achievement that your article notes of 76,000 visitors to Tate Modern’s Birthday Weekend (70% of whom were under 35), and our upcoming programme of Pablo Picasso, JMW Turner, John Constable and Tracey Emin, have given us a stronger platform than ever for future growth.Maria BalshawDirector, Tate Continue reading...

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