Simon Wallis, director of Hepworth Wakefield, has announced as the new secretary and CEO of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London. In September, he will enter the shoes of Axel Rüger, who left his role last October to become a director of Frick Collection in New York.
“As the world’s oldest and most important artist-led organization, the Royal Academicians’ extraordinary talents and vision, their team leads creative dialogue on the national and international stages,” Wallis said in a statement.
His resume includes serving as director of the Chisenhall Gallery in London, senior exhibition organizer at ICA in London, curator of Tate Liverpool and curator of Kettle Courtyard in Cambridge.
One of Wallis’s first job at RA was to stabilize the boat. In April, the academy wielded an axe and reduced its workforce by 15% through mandatory and voluntary layoffs. The college said in February that layoffs were necessary to “maintain their status in the future.”
Wallis has a strong track record at Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire – after being appointed as director in 2008, the museum opened three years later and reached its annual visitor target of 150,000 in just five weeks. In 2017, the museum (known as the late British sculptor Barbara Hepworth), crowned the Art Fund Museum of the Year.
His tenure has led to $35 million in Hepworth Wakefield’s art collection through philanthropy.
“I’m glad Simon will join us,” RA President Rebecca Salter said in a statement. “As the director of Hepworth Wakefield, he has brought a wealth of vision and energy over the past 17 years. I look forward to working with him as we continue to shape the Royal Academy of the 21st century.”
Wallis said he was “the opportunity to call him “a critical moment of development and positive change” in RA, which excited him.
