Maria Balshaw Urges UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves to Expand Tax Incentives for Museum Endowments
As Tate prepares for a leadership transition, its director is making a pointed case for how Britain funds its museums.
Maria Balshaw, who has led Tate since 2017 and announced in December that she plans to step down, is calling on UK chancellor Rachel Reeves to offer stronger tax incentives for donations to museum endowment funds. In an interview with the Financial Times, Balshaw said the government should “think hard and creatively” about encouraging giving from the wealthiest donors, arguing that British institutions are competing “on a very uneven playing field” compared with museums in the United States.
Balshaw framed the issue as one of long-term resilience rather than a replacement for state support. “The arts are part of the public good so we need public funding, not just commercial and philanthropic,” she told the Financial Times, adding that even a modest tax incentive aimed specifically at endowment giving could be “transformational” for financial stability.
The comments arrive as Tate attempts to build a more durable financial base through its own endowment drive. In June, the museum launched the Tate Future Fund, an endowment initiative with a target of raising £150 million (around $200 million) by 2030. At the time, Balshaw noted that while endowment-building has become increasingly common across UK higher education, cultural organizations have rarely mounted campaigns of this scale. Since the fund’s launch, Tate’s endowment has increased to £55 million ($73.3 million), up from £43 million.
The Financial Times reported that Tate recorded a £5 million operating deficit in 2024–25. Balshaw said the institution is on track to maintain a balanced budget this year, positioning the endowment effort as part of a broader strategy to reduce vulnerability to year-to-year swings in revenue.
Balshaw also used the interview to argue for a policy tool that has periodically surfaced in UK cultural debates: a mandated “tourist tax” in England. She proposed that 80 percent of the proceeds be reserved to support free admission to museums, a principle that has long shaped the public identity of major national collections.
In making the case, Balshaw pointed to the international role of institutions such as The British Museum and the V&A. “The British Museum and the V&A, in particular, hold the best of many other nations’ art and culture,” she said. “What does it say to people from the rest of the world if we say, ‘We’ve got your stuff, but we’re going to charge you to come in’? I don’t like that idea.”
Balshaw’s intervention underscores a widening conversation about how UK museums can sustain ambitious programming and stewardship amid rising costs, shifting visitor patterns, and intensified competition for private support. With Tate’s endowment campaign underway and its leadership set to change, the question of what government can do to strengthen cultural finance is likely to remain in sharp focus.
