Helen Legg has been appointed the inventive director of London’s Royal Academy of Arts (RA). Legg, at the moment the director of Tate Liverpool, is among the UK’s most skilled regional museum leaders. Taking over the brand new function in June 2026, she will likely be accountable for the RA’s exhibitions, assortment and public programme, assuming a place that has lengthy formed the establishment’s worldwide repute.
Legg has led Tate Liverpool since 2018, the place she has overseen a significant capital redevelopment of the gallery’s Grade I-listed constructing, as a result of reopen in 2027. Earlier than arriving at Tate, Legg was the director of Spike Island in Bristol between 2010 and 2018, a gallery and studio complicated with a programme centered on rising and under-recognised artists. She beforehand labored as a curator at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, the place she helped the event of Ikon Eastside, a second gallery and occasions area housed in a manufacturing facility constructing within the metropolis centre’s former industrial space of Digbeth.
Legg stated she was “thrilled” by the appointment. “The RA is led by main artists and designers, with the UK’s oldest—and, crucially, free—artwork college at its coronary heart,” she stated in a press release. “The chance to form the RA’s inventive programme and reply to its extraordinary gallery areas, in addition to launching the expanded Assortment Gallery, is tremendously thrilling.”
Legg gained a grasp’s diploma in historical past of artwork from the College of St Andrews, Scotland, in 1996, adopted by one other in curating and commissioning up to date artwork from London’s Royal School of Artwork. She has been a part of choice committees for British and Scottish illustration on the Venice Biennale, and has been a decide for the Turner Prize, the Up to date Artwork Society’s Museums Award and the Hepworth Prize for Sculpture, amongst others.
Simon Wallis, the secretary and chief govt of the RA, says in a press release that Legg is the “ideally suited” candidate. “She is very revered within the artwork world and has a confirmed observe file in delivering distinctive exhibitions,” he provides.
The announcement coincides with two additional senior appointments on the RA. Livia Evans—previously of the retail, grocery store and monetary enterprise John Lewis & Companions—joins as industrial director, whereas Lamia Dabboussy will change into director of name and audiences, becoming a member of from the Museum of Up to date Artwork Australia.
In contrast to most main museums in London, the RA doesn’t obtain direct authorities funding and as an alternative depends on ticket gross sales, donations, sponsorship, industrial actions and its membership scheme for its revenue. Lately it has confronted monetary troubles, resulting in a 15% discount within the RA’s workforce in 2025. “This was delivered by a mix of vacant roles not backfilled and redundancies (a mixture of obligatory and voluntary). The session concerned all ranges of the organisation,” a spokesperson for the RA says. On 5 March, Sotheby’s held an public sale of ten works by Royal Academicians and honorary RAs, that raised round £2.1m for the establishment.
