Towner has appointed Martin Clark as its new CEO & Director, with the Camden Art Centre director set to take up the role in January 2027 as the Eastbourne gallery prepares for a major period of expansion.
Clark joins Towner after ten years as Director of Camden Art Centre, where he has overseen exhibitions by artists including Mohammed Sami, Amy Sillman, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Martin Wong, Allison Katz, Lonnie Holley, Jesse Darling, Forrest Bess, Richard Wright and Nicola L., alongside the influential group exhibition The Botanical Mind.
His appointment follows the departure of Joe Hill in spring 2026 and comes at a particularly significant moment for Towner, with development of Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm due to begin in early 2027.
The ambitious new cultural destination near Eastbourne, within the South Downs National Park, will combine art, nature and heritage. Plans include a new gallery building alongside refurbished historic Downland farm buildings providing spaces for learning, heritage and community programmes.
Clark said:
“I’m enormously excited to be joining Towner at this pivotal moment for the organisation. Towner is already the largest and most significant museum and gallery of modern and contemporary art in the southeast, but with the delivery of Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm, we have the opportunity to create a new kind of arts organisation.”
He continued:
“One that brings together a world class collection, an ambitious and internationally renowned exhibition and commissioning programme, alongside innovative new models of education, training, skills development and creative opportunities, all set in the unique and breathtaking landscape of the South Downs National Park.”
Clark already has a connection with Towner, having served on the jury for the Turner Prize 2023, which was hosted by the gallery during its centenary year.
At Camden Art Centre, he also established the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Award at Frieze London in 2018, providing emerging artists with the opportunity to stage their first institutional exhibition in London. Recipients have included Julien Creuzet, Marina Xenofontos, Wong Ping, Tenant of Culture, Jack O’Brien and Nat Faulkner.
More recently, Clark led a major fundraising campaign during Camden Art Centre’s 60th anniversary year in 2025 to acquire its building from Camden Council and secure the organisation’s long-term future.
The move to Eastbourne also returns Clark to the leadership of a major regional arts organisation. Before Camden Art Centre, he was Director of Bergen Kunsthall in Norway from 2013–17, and before that Artistic Director of Tate St Ives from 2007–13.
Clark became the youngest Tate director when he took up the St Ives position in 2007. During his tenure, he worked on the development, fundraising and artistic masterplan for the gallery’s £9 million Phase Two capital project, as well as curating The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art, which subsequently travelled to Towner in 2010.
His experience developing Tate St Ives is particularly relevant as Towner looks beyond its Eastbourne gallery and towards Black Robin Farm, while simultaneously expanding its creative programme in Newhaven and its wider work across Sussex.
Stephen Welton CBE, Chair of Towner’s Board of Trustees, said:
“With a distinguished career in leading visual arts organisations in the UK and abroad, Martin will bring creativity, expertise and dynamism to the next stage of Towner’s evolution. He has a strong feel for our vital regional galleries and communities from his time at Tate St Ives in Cornwall, as well as a keen understanding of what is happening nationally after ten years with Camden Art Centre.”
Clark’s appointment was made by a panel led by Welton, who is also Chair of British Business Bank, alongside Towner President David Dimbleby.
Catherine Wood, Towner Trustee and Acting Director of Tate Modern, added:
“Martin brings original artistic vision, deep respect within the field, and years of experience leading ambitious, publicly minded galleries, along with a genuine talent for building and nurturing communities of engagement around art.”
Clark will begin as CEO & Director of Towner in January 2027, just as work on Black Robin Farm is scheduled to get underway.
