Qdos Entertainment has appointed Derek Nicholls as Chief Executive Officer of its new Theatres Division. He has been President of the Theatrical Management Association since 2004 and was formerly with the Churchill Theatre, Bromley.
Sheffield Theatres has announced Daniel Evans (pictured) as its new Artistic Director. He will be working part-time with the company for a period of handover and preparation until he assumes his position full-time in June. The inaugural season under Evans’s artistic leadership will begin in February 2010.
Nina Due, currently Curator at the Design Museum, will become its new Head of Exhibitions.
Catherine West (pictured) is to join Lift Festival as its Development Director. She previously worked for the University of Westminster where she helped established ‘P3’, a multidisciplinary creative space, and prior to that, for Arts and Ideas New Haven, The International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
David Brookbanks is to take up the position of Media and PR Manager at the NewcastleGateshead Initiative. David was formerly Press and Communications Officer at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where Kate Duncan will be covering the post until a permanent replacement is announced.
François Matarasso (pictured) has been reappointed as chair of the East Midlands regional Arts Council and a member of the national Arts Council for another four-year term. He is a freelance writer and arts researcher, specialising in community-based cultural activity and its role in people’s lives. He has held the post with Arts Council England since October 2005.
Eva Martinez has recently joined Southbank Centre as Dance and Performance Programmer, following two and a half years at National Dance Agency Dance4 as Artistic Programme Manager. Prior to this, she was Administrative Manager for Transitions Dance Company at the Laban centre and also worked in France. She joins newly appointed Head of Dance at Southbank Centre, Nicky Molloy, who was formerly Director and Chief Executive of Dance4 and Artistic Director of nottdance.
Adrian Lochhead (pictured) is to become Director of Eden Arts, an arts development charity based in Cumbria. He is an actor, writer, director, producer and educationalist who has worked on education projects, community projects and festivals, including at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre.
Baroness Ford has been appointed as Chair of the recently created 2012 legacy delivery company. Her role will be to secure a lasting legacy for the Olympic Park after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the creation of world class sporting, education and cultural facilities. She was previously Chair of English Partnerships and is currently senior advisor to the Royal Bank of Canada’s Global Infrastructure Group.
Dr Philip Hammond (pictured), Director of Arts Support at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI), has retired after 20 years working for ACNI.
Claire Whitaker is to become a new advisor to the Arts programme of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. A director of Serious and the London Jazz Festival since 1996, she was formerly Director of africa95, the UK’s biggest ever celebration of African arts. She is also Deputy Chair of the Royal Commonwealth Society, a Council Member of the Caine Prize for African Writing, and a member of the National Advisory Group to Sing Up, the Music Manifesto’s National Singing Programme.
The Marchioness of Douro (pictured) will succeed David Norman as Chairman of The Royal Ballet School in September. She was a Director of English National Ballet and Chairman of English National Ballet School in the late 1980s. She is a current Trustee of The National Portrait Gallery.
Broadcaster Sheena McDonald is to join the Board of Creative Scotland 2009 Ltd as a non-executive director for the company that will complete work to merge the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen into Creative Scotland. In addition to her career with the BBC, Scottish Television, Channel 4 TV and Teachers TV, she chaired the board of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre for seven years and currently chairs the Theatre Forum of Scotland.