Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has announced the appointment of Joe Hill as its new Director and Chief Executive, assuming full responsibility from 14 April. His appointment marks the organisation entering a pivotal phase looking ahead to its 50th anniversary in 2027. Set within 500 acres of historic parkland in West Bretton, West Yorkshire, YSP has established itself as a leading international cultural destination, renowned for its pioneering approach to sculpture and site-responsive practice. 

The Trustees’ appointment of Joe Hill responds to his proven track record of leading cultural organisations through periods of growth, transformation and national recognition, and his ambition for YSP and the region. He brings exceptional insight into how cultural institutions can shape place, foster creativity and connect meaningfully with diverse audiences and teams with care.  

Originally from Yorkshire and a trained artist, Hill is currently Director and CEO of Towner Eastbourne, a position he has held for eight years. His tenure at Towner has been marked by a strong artistic vision, major collection development and an embedded commitment to community, ensuring artists and audiences remained central to the organisation’s purpose. His leadership experience and artistic vision align powerfully with YSP’s ambitions for the future.  

During his tenure, Towner Eastbourne won Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2020, hosted the Turner Prize in 2023, and secured funding for a major capital project to create a new arts, environment and heritage centre at Black Robin Farm on the South Downs. Audiences grew significantly under Hill’s leadership, which also saw Towner launch an ambitious redevelopment of its Eastbourne gallery building. 

Hill was appointed following a highly competitive recruitment process, with brilliant applications from 3 continents, 10 nations and cultural leaders from across the UK. As Director and Chief Executive, he will lead YSP’s next phase of artistic and strategic growth, advancing its role as a centre for commissioning, learning and research; strengthening its long-term vision across its outdoor landscape, several distinctive indoor galleries and award-winning visitor facilities. 

Hill brings a combination of creative insight, strategic leadership and partnership-building experience to YSP. He is an active contributor to national cultural policy, including serving as a member of the Turner Prize 2026 jury, and through leadership roles in regional and sector-wide networks such as Culture East Sussex and the South East Creative Economy Network.  

His career reflects a sustained belief in the power of contemporary art to shape civic life and reimagine relationships between culture, place and landscape. Prior to Towner, he was Director of Focal Point Gallery, Southend, where he led the influential Radical ESSEX research and placemaking programme. His curatorial experience includes roles at Camden Arts Centre, Firstsite Colchester and the Venice Biennale. 

Peter Clegg, Chair of the Trustees, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: 
“On behalf of YSP’s Trustees I am delighted to welcome Joe Hill as our new Director and Chief Executive. We went through an exhaustive process alongside our Senior Leadership Team and chose Joe unanimously from an exciting longlist of applicants.

Joe has completely transformed Towner Eastbourne into the centre for creative arts across the region that it is now, and has initiated a new cultural and educational centre for landscape and the arts in the South Downs National Park.

Our thanks go to Kevin Rodd our Interim Director and to the team who have stepped up to the challenges of the last 6 months. With an exceptional programme planned for the coming year and some interesting entrepreneurial challenges to get stuck into, YSP is in very capable hands.” 
 
Incoming Director and Chief Executive Hill added:  
“Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a place I have admired for a long time for its ambition, generosity and deep connection to artists and landscape. I am thrilled to be joining as Director and Chief Executive, and look forward to working with the team to ensure YSP continues to grow as a truly global destination for sculpture, while remaining deeply rooted in Yorkshire and the communities and landscape that make it so distinctive. I’m excited to build on YSP’s remarkable artistic programme and to strengthen its long-term resilience, ensuring it continues to support artists and welcome audiences in ever more inspiring ways.”

Pete Massey, Director Yorkshire and the Humber, Arts Council England said:  
“We‘re delighted to hear that Joe Hill will be joining Yorkshire Sculpture Park as Director and Chief Executive in April. His significant leadership experience and artistic vision will be invaluable as the organisation celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. We look forward to working with him on this new chapter for one of the country’s leading cultural destinations.” 

Notes to Editors 
Press enquiries
Mana Merikhy, Sutton / +44 (0)20 7183 3577 / mana@suttoncomms.com
YSP / +44 (0)1924 832 631 / comms@ysp.org.uk  
Download images at ysp.org.uk/press

Listings information
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG
Near Wakefield and Barnsley – M1 Junction 38
+44 (0)1924 832631 | ysp.org.uk | @YSPsculpture
Check online for opening hours.
Book tickets at ysp.org.uk

Social media
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Facebook: @YorkshireSculpturePark
LinkedIn: Yorkshire Sculpture Park
#YSPSculpture

About Yorkshire Sculpture Park  
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is the leading international centre for modern and contemporary sculpture. Welcoming around 380,000 visitors each year, YSP is a registered charity and accredited museum situated in the 500-acre, 18th-century Bretton Hall estate in West and South Yorkshire.    
  
YSP is the largest sculpture park in Europe. Founded in 1977 by Sir Peter Murray CBE it is currently led by Interim Director Kevin Rodd. It is the only place in Europe to see Barbara Hepworth’s The Family of Man in its entirety, alongside a significant collection of sculpture, including bronzes by Henry Moore, important pieces by Roger Hiorns, Damien Hirst, Kimsooja, Marc Quinn, Hank Willis Thomas and Erwin Wurm, and site-specific works by Hemali Bhuta, Andy Goldsworthy, Alfredo Jaar, David Nash, Sean Scully and James Turrell.    
  
YSP mounts a year-round temporary exhibitions programme including some of the world’s leading artists across three indoor galleries and the outdoors. Highlights include exhibitions by Fiona Banner, Anthony Caro, Tony Cragg, Leonardo Drew, Robert Indiana, Amar Kanwar, KAWS, William Kentridge, Bharti Kher, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Lindsey Mendick, Annie Morris, Giuseppe Penone, Jaume Plensa, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Sean Scully, Chiharu Shiota, Yinka Shonibare CBE, David Smith, Joana Vasconcelos, Bill Viola and Erwin Wurm.    
  
Across its 49-year history, YSP has worked with over 1,000 artists from more than 40 countries, on varied projects from short-term residencies to major surveys. YSP supports artists at vital stages in their careers and is rare in having the accommodation, workshops and expertise to enable open-ended and risk-taking practice, giving artists space, time and support to think and to develop new ideas.    
 
Over this time, YSP has sought to ignite, nurture and sustain interest in and debate around contemporary art and sculpture, especially with those for whom art participation is not habitual or familiar. It enables open access to art, situations and ideas, and continues to re-evaluate and expand the approach to considering art’s role and relevance in society. Supporting 40,000 people each year through YSP’s learning programme, this innovative work develops ability, confidence and life aspiration in participants.    
  
YSP’s core work is made possible by investment from Arts Council England, Wakefield Council, Roger Evans, the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation and the Dunard Fund. YSP was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2014 and awarded the 2023 Visitor Attraction of the Year and Cultural Award in the Yorkshire Post Tourism Awards.  

About Towner Eastbourne 
Towner Eastbourne has been collecting and exhibiting contemporary art for more than 100 years and now welcomes nearly 200,000 visitors each year. Located where the coast meets the South Downs, Towner presents exhibitions of national and international significance and delivers an inclusive public programme of exhibitions, live events, film and learning in collaboration with artists, communities and partners.

Towner’s collection of almost 5,000 works is renowned for its modern British art, including the largest and most significant body of work by Eric Ravilious, alongside a growing collection of international contemporary art by artists including Alicja Kwade, Clare Woods, Jodie Carey and Nathan Coley. Towner was Art Fund Museum of the Year 2020 and hosted Turner Prize 2023.

Towner is entering a new phase of growth and diversification, guided by an ambitious strategy to support sustainable cultural development across the region. This includes the development of Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm, a major new cultural destination within the South Downs National Park and the BN9 creative programme in Newhaven, which supports artists, communities and creative regeneration through exhibitions, events and grant funding.

About Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm
Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm is a bold new cultural destination perched above Eastbourne, near the chalk cliffs of Seven Sisters in the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park. This extraordinary site set within an historic Sussex farmstead and unique chalk grasslands will act as a new eastern gateway to the national park, connecting local communities and international audiences to the land, its heritage and its future. Framed by the iconic coastal landmarks of Beachy Head, Birling Gap and Cuckmere Haven, Towner Seven Sisters will animate this landscape in new and powerful ways. Through artist commissions, outdoor sculpture, exhibitions, workshops, creative learning activities, sustainable food and walking experiences, it will celebrate and protect the beauty, heritage and ecological significance of the South Downs.

About BN9 Creative Programme, Newhaven
Funded by the Newhaven Enterprise Zone and supported by Lewes District Council, Towner’s BN9 creative programme supports artists, communities, and creative and economic regeneration in Newhaven. The programme delivers exhibitions, events and activities in the Marine Workshops building, the Sidings courtyard and public spaces across the town.

BN9 attracts growing audiences each year and also includes the Growth Fund - which awards grants to Newhaven-based artists and creatives - as well as supporting the Newhaven Art Space on Newhaven High Street.