What does it take to lead an institution in a way that people don’t just visit—but feel they belong to?
Today, I’m in conversation with the extraordinary Joe Hill—Director and Chief Executive of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and formerly the force behind Towner Eastbourne’s transformation into one of the UK’s most dynamic cultural spaces. From winning Art Fund Museum of the Year to hosting the Turner Prize, Joe has built a reputation for shaping institutions that don’t just show art, but root it deeply in place, people, and possibility.
But this conversation goes far beyond titles and accolades.
We talk about what it really means to create cultural spaces that people care about—so much so that they protect them, claim them, and see themselves inside them. Joe shares stories of artists whose simplest ideas became the most powerful, why overcomplicating can kill a commission, and how trust—real trust in artists—is still one of the most radical acts an institution can make.
