18 Facts About Tate

Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art.

Name "Tate" is used as the operating name for the corporate body, which was established by the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 as "The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery".

The Tate Gallery was housed in the current building occupied by Tate Britain, which is situated in Millbank, London.

One of the Tate's most publicised art events is the awarding of the annual Turner Prize, which takes place at Tate Britain every other year .

Original Tate was called the National Gallery of British Art, situated on Millbank, Pimlico, London at the site of the former Millbank Prison.

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Forty years later Sir Henry Tate who was a sugar magnate and a major collector of Victorian art, offered to fund the building of the gallery to house British Art on the condition that the State pay for the site and revenue costs.

Tate's father had earlier paid for an extension to house the major part of the Turner Bequest, which in 1987 was transferred to a wing paid for by Sir Charles Clore.

In 1954, the Tate Gallery was finally separated from the National Gallery.

Later, the Tate began organising its own temporary exhibition programme.

In 2007, Tate Liverpool hosted the Turner Prize, the first time this has been held outside London.

The extension to Tate Modern opened in 2016 as The Switch House and, in 2017, was renamed the Blavatnik Building after Anglo-Ukrainian billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who contributed a "substantial" amount of its £260m cost.

Tate Digital is the name of the department responsible for Tate's website and other public-facing digital projects.

Tate Online has been used as a platform for Internet art exhibits, termed Net Art, which are organised as part of Tate's Intermedia Art initiative covering new media art.

Tate receives annual funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Under the Charities Act 1993, the Tate is an exempt charity accountable directly to Government rather than the Charity Commission for financial returns etc.

Various bodies have been set up to support the Tate including Tate Members for the general public, where a yearly fee gives rights such as free entry to charging exhibitions and members' rooms.

Tate now spends around £1 million of its general funds each year on purchasing acquisitions and their related costs.

In 2012, the Tate established a South Asian acquisitions committee to collect contemporary and modern art from India and surrounding countries, as well as a committee for works from Russia, Eastern Europe and the CIS .