Thursday, December 6, 2018 – 09:45Since she established the organisation in 1994, Nicola has built Arts Catalyst into one of the UK’s most distinctive contemporary arts organisations, pioneering a model for transdisciplinary collective inquiry that has come to underpin Arts Catalyst’s ethos and methodology for working with artists. Renowned internationally as an innovator and leader in the field of art, science and technology, under Nicola’s visionary leadership, Arts Catalyst has commissioned over 160 new artists’ projects and produced more than 70 exhibitions, collaborating with major arts, science and academic organisations in the UK and internationally – from Tate to the European Space Agency. Ambitious and often spectacular, notable projects have included works by Tomás Saraceno, Otolith Group, Aleksandra Mir, Jan Fabre, Helen Chadwick, Donald Rodney, Carey Young, Ashok Sukumaran, Marko Peljhan, and Critical Art Ensemble, among many others. Nicola joins FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), the UK’s pre-eminent media arts centre, based in Liverpool, to lead the organisation into its next phase, building on its history of supporting, producing and presenting world-class art that embraces and explores creative media and digital technology. Nicola will leave Arts Catalyst in Spring 2019. Plans for recruiting a new Artistic Director, who will work alongside the current Executive Director, Claudia Lastra, to take the organisation forward, will be announced soon. Nicola Triscott said: “I can’t think of another job to which I would rather move from Arts Catalyst than that of Chief Executive of FACT, Liverpool. It is an organisation that I deeply admire, with an international reputation for championing and supporting art, media and creative technology. After nearly 25 years at Arts Catalyst, I am excited to take my knowledge and enthusiasm for art, science and technology to FACT and to contribute to Liverpool’s thriving art scene and cultural ecology. There is never a perfect time to leave an organisation, and especially one with which I am so deeply connected, but I am completely confident that Arts Catalyst’s exceptional staff team and board will ensure a dynamic future for the organisation.” Elizabeth Lynch, Arts Catalyst Chair said: “Under Nicola’s direction, Arts Catalyst has played a leading role in developing critical thinking, artistic practice, and research around transdisciplinary work across art, science and technology. The Board is immensely proud of her achievements with us and delighted that she will lead FACT, an organisation with whom Arts Catalyst already has a valued relationship. The Arts Catalyst team is well-positioned to deliver a compelling 2019 programme under Executive Director Claudia Lastra and Programme Curator Anna Santomauro, who have been pivotal in establishing the organisation’s national and international programme following the move to its new King’s Cross centre in 2016. True to the spirit of the organisational culture that Nicola has fostered, Arts Catalyst looks forward to change and we are excited by the opportunity to look for fresh creative leadership.” FACT Chair, Rachel Higham, said: “We are delighted to have found in Nicola, such an accomplished and visionary CEO and Artistic Director with a strong history of building innovative partnerships. Nicola is a respected scholar who has conducted outstanding creative and innovative research in the field of interdisciplinary art and science studies and practice. The Board and Senior Management team are looking forward to working with Nicola to lay out a new future for FACT that critically evaluates and responds to the changing artistic, social, scientific, political and economic landscape. Under Nicola’s leadership, I am confident FACT will grow into playing an even stronger national and international role in influencing thinking, artistic practice and models for transdisciplinary work across art, science and technology.” Looking forward to 2019, the organisation’s 25th year, Arts Catalyst’s programme includes a major new commission Genetic Automata by Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, Arts Catalyst’s ongoing Test Sites programme – a series of collective inquiries into matters of concern relating to environmental issues in West Yorkshire, London and Poole, and a cross-institutional season of work, The Destruction of Capitalism in 5 Acts, examining the current state of extractive politics and economics. Read the full press release here. For interview requests, images and further information contact:Poppy CockburnCommunications Officerpoppy.cockburn@artscatalyst.org / T: 020 7278 8373
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