Todoli brought in to give the Tate Modern a Latin slant

Britain's most fashionable arts venue, the Tate Modern, is to be run by a Spaniard who is now working in Portugal.

The appointment yesterday of Vicente Todoli, 43, director of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, underlines the increasingly international approach to arts management in Britain. The South Bank Centre in London, the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet are also managed by administrators who have come from overseas.

Mr Todoli, who is married to a freelance designer, was on a shortlist of four, which included two from the UK and one from America. He succeeds another European, the Swede Lars Nittve, who resigned last year to return to a top job in his home country.

Yesterday, Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of all the Tate's galleries, said there was a distinction between north European and south European, and that Mr Todoli would bring a dimension lacking in British art galleries.

Sir Nicholas said: "I think that we have always had the ambition to make this a museum that has an international voice as well as a voice for Britain. To bring a continental voice, especially one from the south, will change what we have to offer here.

"Vicente has a strong connection with Latin America, which people in Britain don't have. That will find its way into some of the exhibitions."

Mr Todoli made light yesterday of questions about how he would manage to work in harmony with Sir Nicholas. There have been reports over the last few months of staff leaving because of Sir Nicholas's hands-on approach, and there was speculation that this may have played a part in Mr Nittve's surprise departure.

Mr Todoli said: "I'm not worried. I have known him since 1987, and I have not only admiration, but also empathy. I'll be working closely with Sir Nicholas. I believe in we, not in I."

Sir Nicholas said: "He is the captain of the team. I'm a coach. I shan't meddle. I'm there as a back-stop, but not to tell him what to do. I never told Lars what to do, actually."

Mr Todoli is certain to bring changes to Tate Modern. While he would not outline his vision yesterday, he said he would hang old paintings in the building if they helped to throw light on a contemporary artist.

He has used 15th-century paintings in "contemporary" exhibitions in Porto. He said: "I don't believe in timeframes. Everything is contemporary. Art from any century could be in Tate Modern, in the right context, if it makes sense."

The Valencia-born Mr Todoli has headed two important European modern art museums since he obtained art degrees from Valencia University and Yale University in the US and has close ties to important Spanish sculptors who have exhibited at the Tate Modern.

He was artistic director of Spain's Valencia Institute of Modern Art from 1988 to 1996, but he was somewhat overshadowed by the flamboyant director Carmen Alborch, who subsequently became the culture minister in the Socialist government.

In 1998 he went to Porto in Portugal, where he oversaw the inauguration of the city's Serralves Museum of Modern Art, the first museum in Portugal devoted entirely to contemporary art.

The Serralves museum, like the Tate Modern, was converted from an existing architectural jewel, in this case a huge Art Deco mansion set in 18 hectares of gardens restored by the Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza Viera.

The grounds were laid open for exhibiting sculptures, and Mr Todoli was friendly with the Spanish sculptor Cristina Iglesias and her late compatriot Juan Munoz, who created a giant installation for the Tate Modern's turbine hall last year.

Some feathers were ruffled in Portugal when the Spaniard was appointed to head such an important new venture. But Mr Todoli, who became steeled while he was at Valencia to the rigours of political infighting, shrugged off the carping.

"They asked me when I arrived why Portugal had to go to Spain for a director, and I said for the same reason that Spanish football clubs went to Portugal for players.

"If Figo can play in Barcelona or Madrid, why can't I direct a museum in Porto?" said Mr Todoli.

Foreign champions of the arts

Michael Lynch, South Bank Centre

Mr Lynch, who ran the Sydney Opera House, has just taken over the venue that styles itself the world's largest arts centre. The straight-talking Australian was a casting director on the hit film Crocodile Dundee and once caused outrage by suggesting that the Sydney Opera House should be floated on the stock market to raise funds.

Ross Stretton, The Royal Ballet

Australia seems to be somewhere that breeds arts administrators. Mr Stretton, who ran the Australian Ballet in Melbourne, has succeeded Sir Anthony Dowell as head of the Royal Ballet. Mr Stretton says his aim is "to create a company that touches people's hearts and minds, and overwhelms them with its physicality".

Antonio Pappano, Royal Opera House

Mr Pappano almost defies any national labelling. He was born in America of Italian parents and made his debut with the Norway Opera. Now in the key position of music director at Covent Garden, he says: "Only Britain has this hang-up about elitism. Opera is a very strong and organic part of German, French and Italian culture. Every little town in Germany has its own opera house, its own ballet company and its own theatre."