Jackie Wylie for NTS
Edinburgh-born artistic director for National Theatre of Scotland
The National Theatre of Scotland has announced that Jackie Wylie, who was artistic director of the Glasgow Arches fom 2008 to 2014, has been appointed artistic director.
She will take up the post in the Spring of 2017, following the completion of the Arches follow-up festival Take Me Somewhere, that will build on the legacy and international programming of the Arches. Her predecessor, Laurie Sansom, resigned earlier this year after three years in the post.
Jackie Wylie and Seona Reid. Photo: Christopher Bowen
Wylie was born in Edinburgh and studied at the University of Glasgow. She graduated in 2001 with a First Class MA in Film and Television and Theatre Studies.
She joined the Arches as its arts programmer in 2004, under founding artistic director Andy Arnold, before being made artistic director in 2008 when he moved on. During her time at the Arches she established its annual international festival, Behaviour, with a focus on ground-breaking global companies.
According to the NTS, in their search for a new artistic director the recruitment panel were looking for a candidate who could “build on its reputation and loyal audiences whilst further extending its work to new partners, new audiences, new forms of theatre and new talent”.
In a statement, Jackie Wylie spoke of the privilege of being given the opportunity to lead the National Theatre of Scotland, which “pioneered the ground-breaking model of a theatre without walls and since then it has combined world-class artistic distinction with a particular commitment to involving the entire population of Scotland”.
innovation
She said: “I look forward to continuing that spirit of innovation, building on the organisation’s many existing successes and relationships whilst also bringing in new voices, seeking out exciting collaborations at home as well as looking outwards, across the world.
Jackie Wylie, newly-appointed Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland. Photo Christopher Bowen
“It’s a thrilling prospect to continue the brilliantly ambitious work that the National Theatre of Scotland has excelled at over the past decade, reaching new audiences in places and spaces across the country.
“Our national theatre is in a confident position, able to explore future definitions of what theatre can be and who it should be for.”
Chair of the NTS board, Seona Reid, commented on the appointment: “Under her leadership, we will see a commitment to building on the National Theatre of Scotland’s exceptional reputation for world-class theatre whilst engaging further with new forms of theatre, new audiences, new communities and new talent.
“We will see a continuing commitment to a theatre for everyone, serving the whole of Scotland, whilst developing and consolidating partnerships in Europe and the rest of the world. And we will see a collaborative National Theatre of Scotland extending its work with partners, existing and new, to make great theatre in, of, and for Scotland.”
ENDS
