SEROTA MADE PERMANENT EMPLOYEE OF TATE

Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate galleries, has been made a “permanent employee” to stand at the helm of Tate indefinitely, according to The Independent’s Arifa Akbar. While the decision will be welcomed by supporters, Serota and the Tate trustees will face vociferous protests from opponents of the director’s twenty-year tenure so far. Serota was appointed in 1988 on a seven-year contract, renewed in 1995 and 2002. Concerns were expressed this year that trustees hoped to push his contract renewal through “on the quiet,” with no other candidate put up for the public post. A Tate spokeswoman said the change made to a permanent contract was in line with employment law. “The trustees discussed the issue of the director’s contract and terms of employment, in a separate session for trustees only, on May 21 and were asked to consider the terms in order that a decision could be reported to the board on July 9,” the spokeswoman said. “There have been major changes in UK employment law, meaning the director in fact should be treated as a permanent employee . . . and the contract’s expiration date of August 31 had no binding effect.” In April, a petition was created by artist Charles Thomson calling for Gordon Brown to veto Serota’s reappointment.