North Lands have announced the appointment of Karen Phillips as its new Chief Executive as from 5 September 2016.
Karen has recently been Executive Director of RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre Company, an award winning influential centre of contemporary arts practice in Ireland incorporating artist studios, incubation spaces, art galleries, performance and rehearsal spaces and workshop activity rooms. She was previously employed as Craft Development Officer at An Tuireann Arts Centre on the Isle of Skye, Development Manager at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Development Manager at the Creative Enterprise Office of Louth Enterprise Board.
Karen is keen to further develop North Lands’ internationally recognised programme of master classes, skills classes, international conferences and symposiums, artists’ residencies and access courses for the next decade alongside Jeffrey Sarmiento, North Lands’ new Artistic Director and the North Lands’ team in Lybster, Caithness. The position is supported by Creative Scotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
‘I am thrilled and honoured to be joining the organisation at such a crucial time in its history’, commented Karen Phillips, ‘In the twenty years since establishment, North Lands’ has brought vitality, excitement, and fresh perspectives to glass. I look forward to building on its past successes. Thus it is with great enthusiasm that I take on the task of furthering North Lands’ role as an active promoter and supporter of creative glass and as a place for open and enriching dialogue on contemporary glass-making, both locally and internationally.’
