Joe Hill, the director of Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, has been appointed director and chief executive of Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) in northern England. YSP, described as Europe’s largest sculpture park, is set within the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate in West Yorkshire. “YSP is a place I have admired for a long time for its ambition, generosity and deep connection to artists and landscape," Hill says in statement.
Hill, who will take up the position from 14 April, is only the third director of the park. Peter Murray retired in 2022 after 45 years at the helm. Clare Lilley, previously YSP’s director of programme and Murray’s successor, stepped down last summer.
“The trustees’ appointment of Joe Hill responds to his proven track record of leading cultural organisations through periods of growth, transformation and national recognition, and his ambition for YSP and the region,” a YSP statement says. Under Hill, Towner Gallery jointly won Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2020 and hosted the Turner Prize in 2023.
Next year, the park celebrates its 50th anniversary. “[Hill] will lead YSP’s next phase of artistic and strategic growth, advancing its role as a centre for commissioning, learning and research; strengthening its long-term vision across its outdoor landscape, several distinctive indoor galleries and award-winning visitor facilities,” the statement adds. Previous exhibitions have been dedicated to artists such as Robert Indiana, Amar Kanwar, KAWS, William Kentridge and Bharti Kher.
In 2020, YSP was awarded £804,013 from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund that were given to help museums financially during the pandemic. The park, an independent charity, closed from March that year, partially reopening the following July. YSP has also been awarded £4,010,397 over three years (2023-26) as part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio scheme. The current full-price admission fee to enter the park is £9.50.