15 Apr 2024
Creative New Zealand has appointed James Wilson as Interim Senior Manager – Arts Development.
The fixed term appointment is a response to Gretchen La Roche’s resignation. Gretchen has accepted a position as Executive Director at Christchurch’s Court Theatre and leaves Creative New Zealand before ANZAC Day.
“Gretchen has made a real impact on our work at Creative New Zealand. One aspect of her legacy is the creation of the for the arts programmes to better meet the needs of the sector,” Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright says.
“For the arts showed Gretchen’s connection and empathy with the sector. Her approach gave the arts community a voice in the design of the programmes and helped us refocus our support,” Stephen says.
“Arts Development is central to our work and we’re already recruiting for the role. Such is the significance of the role, we decided that we needed someone in the interim and we’re pleased to have James Wilson join us in that capacity.”
James has over 20 years’ experience working in and fundraising for the arts, culture, and heritage sectors. He is an Alumni of the ART Venture Programme and Leadership New Zealand and has served as co-Chair of PANNZ and on the executive board of EVANZ.
James has run Q Theatre in Auckland and Baycourt Community and Arts Centre in Tauranga and spent five years in local government as Manager, Arts and Culture for the Tauranga City Council.
He is familiar with Creative New Zealand through serving as a grants assessor and a facilitator for our funding programmes and his work with Massive Theater, one of the organisations in our investment programme.
James will start on limited hours this week and take up the interim role full-time in early May.
See the work for us page of our website for more details. Applications for the permanent role will be accepted until 22 April