Tristram Hunt and Maria Balshaw to lead V&A and Tate respectively

On January 13, 2017, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Gallery simultaneously announced new directors. Tristram Hunt, a historian, politician, and writer specializing in the 18th and 19th centuries, will lead the V&A. He is a member of the Royal Historical Society and former lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. Maria Balshaw, currently director of the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Galleries since 2011, will become the first female director of Tate. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2015 for services to the arts. These appointments follow the resignations of Martin Roth from the V&A on September 7, 2016, and Sir Nicholas Serota from Tate on September 8, 2016, after nearly 30 years.