BBC News has appointed Will Gompertz, director of the Tate Media, to the newly created role of arts editor.
The corporation said creation of the new role was part of its “deeper commitment to arts and music on the BBC throughout 2010.”
As director of Tate Media, Gompertz is responsible for expanding the gallery’s appeal through a range of different publishing, TV and new media partnerships and ventures. He is expected to take up his post in the next few weeks.
Prior to becoming the Tate’s director of communications Gompertz wrote for the Guardian and the Times. He is also currently editor-in-chief of arts website culturecritic.co.uk.
Helen Boaden, BBC director of news, said: “Will has great passion, experience and knowledge of the arts.
“He is a great communicator and is full of ideas about how we could use new media more effectively to share arts news with our audiences.”
Gompertz recently appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a one-man show, Double Art History.
Announcing his appointment, the BBC said: “The BBC has made a new commitment to partnerships in the arts, including working with the Arts Council England to transform public engagement by showcasing young talent, sharing technology and collaborating on live events.
“There is currently a project in development with the Public Catalogue Foundation which could enable the public to view every one of the UK’s 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings.
“As part of the BBC’s pledge to improve collaboration with other institutions and create the best programmes across all our platforms, the BBC set up a pan-BBC arts board, sponsored by Director of Vision, Jana Bennett, and Director of Audio and Music, Tim Davie.
“Consisting of senior arts and creative leaders across the BBC, the board has already met and appointed a new arts coordinator, Mark Bell, who is also the Vision Commissioning Editor for Arts.”
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