Gareth Harris, ‘I don’t like that idea’: outgoing Tate director Maria Balshaw enters debate on museum admission charges, The Art Newspaper, 17 March 2026
Balshaw says a proposed ‘tourist tax’ would be a better source of revenue for UK museums
Maria Balshaw, the outgoing director of the Tate, has waded into the debate about introducing admission charges at UK national museums for overseas visitors. “The British Museum and the V&A, in particular, hold the best of many other nations’ art and culture,” Balshaw told The Financial Times. “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.”
The idea of charging tourists admission at the UK’s leading museums was mooted by the ex-interim director of the British Museum, Mark Jones, in 2024, a suggestion that was met with scepticism by many museum professionals including Tristram Hunt of the Victoria and Albert Museum.