Victoria Pomery
Chief Executive Officer
The Box
Victoria Pomery has been chief executive officer of The Box in Plymouth, UK, since 2021.
Winner of the 2026 Art Fund Museum of the Year award, The Box opened in 2020 and is led by Plymouth City Council.
The Box project transformed a range of the city’s existing buildings, including a church, museum, gallery and library, into a series of new spaces, “built as a love-letter to the people of Plymouth” according to city council leader Tudor Evans.
Its collections, programmes and commissions share stories of international and local significance, and are accompanied by research and learning facilities, food, drink and retail spaces, and a new public events space.
Pomery has worked to establish the organisation as a nationally important museum, gallery and archive, addressing themes such as empire, climate change and social inclusion.
Since opening, the Box is reported to have delivered more than £100 million in health benefits, with an economic footprint of £244 million.
One nominator says: “Victoria Pomery is widely recognised as a leading advocate for the role of museums as drivers of civic renewal, cultural regeneration and economic development, demonstrating how major cultural institutions can be both internationally ambitious and deeply rooted in their local communities.”
Before joining the Box, Pomery served as the founding director of Turner Contemporary in Margate, UK, for nearly two decades. Under her leadership, the organisation became one of Britain's most successful regional galleries, including hosting the Turner Prize in 2019.
Pomery’s career also includes roles at Tate Liverpool, Angel Row Gallery in Nottingham, and Mead Gallery in Warwick.
She received an Honorary Fellowship from Arts University Plymouth in 2024, an Honorary Doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, in 2020, and an Honorary MA from the University of the Creative Arts in 2012.
Also in 2012, Pomery was awarded an OBE for services to the arts, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to cultural leadership in the Arts.
