The Hong Kong-based philanthropist Yana Peel has been appointed as the new chief executive of Serpentine Galleries in London. She will take over from current director Julia Peyton-Jones who announced last year that she will be stepping down after 25 years in the role.
Peel will work in partnership with Serpentine’s artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist, who has been in the role since 2006.
Peel’s philanthropic work includes co-founding Outset Contemporary Art Fund in 2003. The privately funded cultural foundation has to date enabled Tate to acquire over 100 works through the Outset Frieze Art Fair Acquisitions Fund.
Since moving to Asia in 2009, Peel has been CEO of the live and online forum for ‘intelligent debate’, Intelligence Squared, whilst holding a number of board and advisory positions including at Tate and V&A, as well as with foundations and galleries in Hong Kong, Russia and USA.
As co-chair of the Hong Kong contemporary art space Para Site, she oversaw the transformation of its funding model from a majority of government support to a majority of private support. In 2015 she was also appointed as a trustee of Serpentine Galleries.
Making art and ideas accessible
Speaking about her new role, Peel said: “I am thrilled to be taking on the leadership of the Serpentine, an institution that I have admired and been involved with for so long. With Hans Ulrich as artistic director, I am fully committed to making the most exciting art and ideas of our time accessible to the broadest audiences.”
Welcoming the news of Peel’s appointment, Obrist said he too is looking forward to the working partnership, and expressed his commitment to “continuing to make the Serpentine the place where artists want to work most” as it “embarks on an exciting new chapter in its history”.
Peter Heslip, director of visual arts at Arts Council England, added: “We are delighted with the recruitment of Yana Peel as new chief executive of Serpentine Galleries. Yana brings a wealth of experience in both the public and private sector and, in her prior career, a commitment to supporting artists and arts institutions.”
The gallery has also announced the appointment of two new trustees, artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and the vice-chairman, Goldman Sachs, Mike Sherwood.
