The Hepworth Wakefield Development Fund have also supported the building of the gallery alongside a number of charitable trusts, corporations and private individuals. The Hepworth Wakefield is a registered charity under English law. The gallery cost £35 million to build. Five weeks after opening it had received 100,000 visitors. In May 2012 it celebrated its first birthday, having received over 500,000 visitors in the year. In October 2015, the gallery launched the £30,000 biennial The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture as part of the celebrations marking its 5th anniversary. The Hepworth Wakefield is a structure composed of ten trapezoidal blocks; its upper-level galleries are
The Hepworth Wakefield working models donated by Dame Barbara Hepworth's family and temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Items from Wakefield's art collection which spans the 16th century to the present day are on display, including works by Henry Moore, who was born in Castleford in the Wakefield district, Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash, Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert, Anthony Caro, Ivon Hitchens, LS Lowry, and David Hockney. The gallery is a partner of Plus Tate, a project aimed at increasing public access to the national collection of British and international modern and contemporary art. A year after opening, The Hepworth Wakefield was named