In June 2003, Tate St Ives celebrated its tenth birthday. This event coincided with the centenary of the birth of Barbara Hepworth who, together with Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, had settled in St Ives at the beginning of the Second World War. To mark this anniversary, works by Hepworth were brought back to St Ives from around the world for an exhibition1 that proved the most popular in Tate St Ives' history, attracting over 160,000 people.

Tate St Ives was founded on the legacy of Hepworth, Nicholson and other modern artists attracted to Cornwall. But in recent years our success has generated a broader imperative, beyond promoting the St Ives School. People living throughout the West of England are looking to us to provide a more general programme of modern and contemporary art.

Responding to our artistic roots is important - but so is meeting the demands of our audience, and it was in this spirit that we programmed Real Life2. A mixed show of film and video, it featured the work of artists such as Tracey Emin, Gilbert and George, Susan Hiller, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor Wood, Bill Viola and Gillian Wearing - none of them directly associated with St Ives.

But of course, as we explore more widely, we continue to anchor our overall strategy in our particular context. The renowned ceramic artist Kosho Ito3, as well as Richard Slee4, Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry5 and, more recently, the Australian artist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott6, have helped develop our ceramics programme beyond the Bernard Leach displays that are so integral to the character of the gallery. Kosho Ito also made two new works especially for Tate St Ives7. Sculptor David Nash's exhibition Making and Placing8 referred both to the ideas emerging from the St Ives School, and to the location and architecture of the gallery itself.

More often, now, we are working directly with artists and commissioning more works for the gallery. A substantial Richard Long exhibition9 featured site-specific works made with Cornish Delabole slate, Cornish driftwood, Cornish china clay and River Avon mud. For Painting Not Painting10, artists from outside Cornwall were invited to exhibit alongside a major St Ives artist, Terry Frost, who sadly died in 2003. The show included works made for the gallery by Jim Lambie, Victoria Morton and Julie Roberts.

In 2003, we set up a new Artist Residency programme based at the historic Porthmeor Studio, previously occupied by artists including Patrick Heron, Ben Nicholson and Sandra Blow. The programme began with two successful six-month pilot residencies. The Iranian-born painter Partou Zia's residency culminated in an exhibition11 inspired by works in the Tate Collection by William Blake. The second recipient, who also exhibited12, was Ged Quinn. Both artists live and work in Cornwall. The next residency will begin in October 2004 with the German-born, London-based artist Kersten Kartscher.

Each season, an exhibiting artist is invited to choose works from the Tate Collection that hold special meaning for them, for an accompanying display called Artists on Artists. Alan Davie13 selected paintings by Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró and Jackson Pollock. Karl Weschke14 chose works by Max Beckmann, Wassily Kandinsky and JMW Turner, among others. David Nash selected three works by Alberto Giacometti.

The way we structure our programmes at Tate St Ives has proved a rich creative catalyst both for artists and for our audiences. Our education programme includes work with children, adults and groups with particular needs, such as Travellers. Local schools winning national art competitions cite us as being important to their success, and we are now seeing the benefits enjoyed by young people who began their education ten years ago and have had contact with us throughout.

Collaborative work with Falmouth College of Arts has culminated in the lecture series Is This Modern Art?, with speakers Grayson Perry, Julian Stallabrass and Jeremy Deller. The next phase of this initiative, This is International Art, begins with a lecture by Tate's Director of Collection, Jan Debbaut. Our valuable work with the Combined Universities of Cornwall is ripe for expansion, and our potential for broadening and elaborating our education offer is great. We are severely limited by having no dedicated space for education, and are working energetically, in partnership with Cornwall County Council and Penwith District Council, to extend the gallery at the rear of the building. If this exciting project is realised, the increased space will provide a much-needed learning zone.

Footnotes

1. Barbara Hepworth: Centenary, 24 May - 12 October 2003. Supported by the Hepworth Family Estate, The Henry Moore Foundation, Tate Members and Tate St Ives Members
2. Real Life, 26 October 2002 - 26 January 2003
3. Kosho Ito, Virus, 8 July - 13 October 2002
4. Richard Slee, Panorama, 25 October 2003 - 25 January 2004
5. Grayson Perry, Collection Intervention, 7 February - 9 May 2004
6. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Caravan, 20 May - 26 September 2004
7. Kosho Ito, Sea Folds and Earth Folds. Supported by South West Arts, the Woo Charitable Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Tate St Ives Members
8. David Nash, Making and Placing, 20 May - 26 September 2004. Supported by The Henry Moore Foundation
9. Richard Long, A Moving World, 8 July - 13 October 2002. Supported by The Henry Moore Foundation
10. Painting Not Painting, 8 February - 11 May 2003. An exhibition of works by Terry Frost, Jim Lambie, Victoria Morton, Julie Roberts and Richard Slee
11. Partou Zia, Artist's Residency, 25 October 2003 - 25 January 2004. Supported by Decibel, Arts Council South West, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Creative Skills Consortium and Tate St Ives Members
12. Ged Quinn, Utopia, Dystopia, 7 February - 9 May 2004
13. Alan Davie, Jingling Space, 25 October 2003 - 25 January 2004
14. Karl Weschke, Beneath a Black Sky: Paintings and Drawings 1953-2004, 7 February - 9 May 2004

We are working more directly with artists and have set up a new Artist Residency scheme