Olivia Colling and Laura Smith are appointed as Co-Directors of The Hepworth Wakefield

Olivia and Laura were both born and grew up in Yorkshire and each have a wealth of experience working in major museums and galleries in London, including Tate, the V&A, the Design Museum and Whitechapel Art Gallery, as well as in regional galleries including Tate St Ives, Nottingham Contemporary and, most recently, The Hepworth Wakefield. They bring a shared understanding of the needs of a broad range of audiences, as well as a sophisticated comprehension of the programming, operating and strategic priorities of a publicly funded regional arts organisation.

The Hepworth Wakefield’s board ran a far-reaching and thorough process, working with a leading international executive recruitment firm, to find the right leadership to take the museum into its next phase, which resulted in a great deal of interest. The board, together with representatives from Arts Council England and Wakefield Council, agreed unanimously that Olivia and Laura’s ambitious vision for The Hepworth Wakefield and their leadership proposal was the right decision to ensure the gallery continues to develop its outstanding global reputation, while being firmly embedded within its local community.

Based in West Yorkshire, The Hepworth Wakefield has established itself as one of the most successful art galleries and museums in the country. 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the David Chipperfield-designed gallery. In its short history, The Hepworth Wakefield has won Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017, fundraised £2m to transform its outdoor site into a beautiful Tom Stuart-Smith garden, and added over 500 artworks to Wakefield’s Art Collection, including Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943, for which they raised £3.89m in five short weeks last year to save it from being exported overseas.

Steve Langan, Chair of The Hepworth Wakefield Trust, said: ‘The Hepworth Wakefield Board is delighted to promote Olivia Colling to Executive Director and Laura Smith to Artistic Director. The role of museum Director is multifarious, requiring an extremely broad range of skills, experience and knowledge in order to succeed. Olivia and Laura brilliantly complement each other’s strengths. They demonstrated an ambitious vision for the future of the gallery, supported with a clear strategy for how they will achieve it, and a talent for inspiring their teams. They have proven success at fundraising and growing commercial income, are well networked locally and nationally, and are building the gallery’s reputation internationally through our expanding touring programme. The selection committee were excited by their ideas for the future exhibition programme, which are dynamic while being grounded in art history, ensuring Wakefield residents, and wider Yorkshire audiences can experience the very best art on their doorstep, as well as attracting audiences from around the UK and overseas. We look forward to seeing them thrive in their new roles.’

Olivia Colling said: ‘It is a true honour to be appointed as The Hepworth Wakefield’s Executive Director and to work alongside such a talented curator and creative thinker as Laura in the role of Artistic Director. We share a great passion for art and the transformative effect it can have on people’s lives, and want our local community to benefit from The Hepworth Wakefield, as well as being known internationally as the most exciting place in the country to experience modern and contemporary art. Laura and I would like to express our sincere thanks to the whole team at The Hepworth Wakefield for their incredible support, particularly over the last six months while we have been interim directors. We have so many exciting plans for this, our 15th anniversary year, and beyond, which we look forward to sharing in due course.’

Laura Smith said: ‘Olivia and I feel deeply privileged to be appointed as Co- Directors of a museum that we are both so passionate about. Thank you to The Hepworth Wakefield Board of Trustees, Arts Council England and Wakefield Council for their openness to our proposal for jointly running the gallery. Olivia and I have worked together for almost four years and have developed a deep respect for each other. We are excited about our plans for the future, and confident that our combined skills, experience, shared values, and our empathetic approach to leadership will enable The Hepworth Wakefield’s team to achieve ever greater success for the gallery in the years ahead, both on an international stage and within our local community.’