Jane Thérèse "Tessa" Jackson OBE (born 5 November 1955) is a British contemporary art curator, writer and administrator.Profile of Tessa Jackson OBE
, debretts.com; accessed 5 November 2017. The daughter of John Nevill Jackson and Viva Christian Thérèse (née Blomfield) Jackson, she was educated at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, where she took her master's degree. She served as CEO of the London-based Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva) in London, from 2010 to 2015.Tessa Jackson stands down
artsprofessional.co.uk; accessed 4 November 2017.

Career

In 1991, Jackson was appointed as the director of the

Arnolfini Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...

(

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

's contemporary art venue), in which she played a leading role in the redevelopment of the institution. In 1999, she was appointed director of the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

, where she was responsible for the public funding of the arts in Scotland. After two years in post, she left, after falling out with SAC chairman James Boyle. In 2002, she became the founding artistic director and chief executive of the Artes Mundi Prize, a contemporary art prize in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, a position which she held until 2010. Simultaneously, she was also the chair of the

Edinburgh Art Festival The Edinburgh Art Festival is an annual visual arts festival, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, during August and coincides with the Edinburgh International and Fringe festivals. The Art Festival was established in 2004, and receives public funding fr ...

between 2005 and 2010. Appointed to her position as CEO of Iniva in 2009, she has continued to uphold the organisation's remit to bring leading black, Asian, African, Middle-Eastern, Caribbean, Oceanic and Latin American contemporary artists from around the world to the London venue, which had become, in 2007, the capital's first purpose-built, publicly funded international contemporary art gallery since the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

in 1968. Speaking to LabKulture in 2011, Jackson stated that her aim at Iniva was, "to diversify how we look at society – through the visual arts... poking society in the ribs a little bit and reminding us there are different view points, different histories that historically in Britain we haven’t always given a proper platform to." During her time at Iniva, the organisation's Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation core funding was reduced by 75% following an exposé by the art critic

Morgan Quaintance Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer) ...

which deemed the organisation unfit for its purpose. Following her departure from Iniva in 2015, Jackson was appointed to the board of trustees of The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art. In 2021, during her time as chair of the artistic committee, the centre faced a mass boycott by artists of the Chinese community following a refusal to engage in discussions on racism with Chinese Artist groups. The boycott was triggered by an open letter written by the artist JJ Chan citing a culture of institutional racism and the dominance of white perspectives within the organisation at all levels.

Awards

In 2011, Jackson was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's

New Year's Honours List The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, in recognition for her 25 years of service to art.

Selected bibliography

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Tessa Living people 1955 births Place of birth missing (living people) British art critics British art curators Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Bristol Officers of the Order of the British Empire