The new Director of the Arts Council Collection is DEBORAH SMITH, who worked for three years at Birmingham Museums Trust as Curator for the Arts Council Collection’s National Partners Programme. She succeeds Jill Constantine who was Director until May 2020, having stepped down after more than 40 years of service.
For the past 20 years Smith has worked across interdisciplinary practices to commission art, curate exhibitions, and develop public programmes in partnership and collaboration with a wide range of artists and organisations. Her roles have included Head of Programmes at the Contemporary Arts Society, Head of Programmes at Serpentine Galleries and Curator for Hayward Gallery Touring.
She is currently a board member of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art and a Steering Group member for Intoart, a South London studio championing the work of artists with learning disabilities.