Tate Galleries has released their annual report for 2014/15. This has been its best year ever for visits – 7.9 million in all, with a record 5.7 million visits to Tate Modern. Tate had the highest number of visits by young people for any art museum in the world with over 3.5 million under the age of thirty-five. Tate also presented the most successful exhibition in its history, Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs.
The report also reveals that the collection was widely shared and UK loans to other institutions were up by twenty-two per cent with over a thousand works lent to 152 venues. The Plus Tate network of partner institutions expanded by sixteen, almost doubling its representation across the UK.
Key achievements this year include: The highest number of visits across the four galleries: 7.9 million with 5.7 million visits to Tate Modern. More than 3.5 million visitors were under the age of thirty-five. The Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at Tate Modern attracted a record-breaking 560,000 visitors. The EY Exhibition: Late Turner – Painting Set Free at Tate Britain drew 266,000 and was the second most visited show in its history. Transmitting Andy Warhol at Tate Liverpool attracted 52,000 visitors generating an estimated £1.36 million in additional spend in Liverpool.
The strong representation of female artists in the exhibition programme with shows by Marlene Dumas, Phyllida Barlow, Leonora Carrington and Cathy Wilkes and work by sixty-five female artists were acquired.
This has An exceptional year for acquisitions with gifts of artworks, among them three spectacular late works by Cy Twombly: Untitled (Bacchus) 2006-8.
An increase in the acquisition of photographic works with over one thousand items entering the collection this year including 305 photographs taken by Harry Shunk and Janos Kender providing an important record of artists, artworks and performances from the 1960s and 1970s. A group of images by Don McCullin were acquired for the ARTIST ROOMS collection. It was also a very strong year for the acquisition of film and video, and Tate’s holdings were enhanced with, among others, Tacita Dean’s Turbine Hall commission, FILM 2011.
The expansion of the geographical reach of the collection with works by artists from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Among these were South African artist William Kentridge’s I am not me, the horse is not mine 2008, Iraqi artist Dia al Azzawi’s Sabra and Shatila Massacre 1982-3 and a substantial body of work by Korean artist Nam June Paik.
ARTIST ROOMS network of Associate galleries continues to grow. Since 2009, 131 displays and exhibitions from the ARTIST ROOMS collection have been seen across sixty-nine museums and galleries in the UK. In 2015 ten new venues were added to the tour. ARTIST ROOMS also supports a tailored programme of learning activities for young people and is committed to developing peer-led youth groups and young ambassadors’ schemes.
The expansion of the Plus Tate network of partner institutions from eighteen to thirty-four, reflecting the power of working in partnership through the sharing of expertise, best practice and contacts to strengthen the UK’s visual arts landscape.
An increase in lending and sharing the collection with a total of 1,640 loans to 273 venues world-wide. 1,017 works went to 152 venues in the UK; and 623 works travelled to 121 venues internationally across 24 countries.
The completion of the superstructure for the new Tate Modern in readiness for the opening of the new spaces in 2016. The twenty-first anniversary of Tate St Ives was marked by significant progress in an ambitious redevelopment programme which will double the exhibition spaces and enhance visitor facilities, a beacon for art in the South West. The digitisation of thousands of items in Tate’s Archive through the Archives and Access project, making 52,000 pieces available to a global audience. And the continued increase in social media platforms which engage world-wide audiences with the programme and collection through 1.4 followers on Twitter, nearly 800,000 people on Facebook, many thousands more on Instagram and Pinterest and new initiatives such as the IK Prize and a partnership with the Khan Academy.