Tate Modern Director Chris Dercon and Tate Director Nicholas Serota, were praised for securing the substantial grant
Photo: notyettitled via tumblr

The Tate has secured £6 million ($9 million) in government funding, in an agreement that was not publicly disclosed, the Art Newspaper reports. The funds will go towards the running of the Tate Modern.

Confirming the government funding, a spokeswoman from the Tate said “Last year the government in principle committed to an uplift in grant-in-aid to support the running of the new Tate Modern.”

The money is likely to go towards the construction of the Tate Modern’s new £215 million ($326 million) Herzong & de Meuron-designed 21,000 sqm extension, which is due to open by the end of 2016 (see Does Britain Need a New Tate Modern?).

The Tate receives twice as many visitors as New York’s MoMA, despite having 50 percent less gallery space
Photo: Hans Peter Schaefer via Wikimedia Commons

According to the Tate’s recently published financial overview for the 2013/2014 fiscal year, the institution was reportedly expecting a 5 percent cut in public funding otherwise.

In light of sustained arts funding cuts since 2010, the 17 percent increase in public funding compared to 2012/2013 is being lauded as a major coup for Tate director Nicholas Serota and outgoing Tate Modern director Chris Dercon (see Chris Dercon Leaves Tate Modern To Direct Berlin’s Volksbühne Theater).

Having previously secured a £5 million grant in 2000 to operate the Tate Modern without charging visitor admission, Serota’s fundraising record will help restore the embattled director’s reputation following his failure to retain Dercon, and Penelope Curtis’s resignation from the Tate Britain (see Penelope Curtis Leaves Tate Britain for Calouste Gulbenkian Museum after Highly Criticized 5-Year Tenure).

Britain’s flagship contemporary and modern art museum already records twice as many visitors than New York’s MoMA, despite having approximately 50 percent less space.