PANDA Appoint New Director
Anne-Marie Crowther has been appointed as the new Director of PANDA. She will take up her post in July.
Originally a dancer and Royal Academy of Dance Licentiate, Anne-Marie has over 20 years experience of management within the performing arts and also in the leisure, voluntary and commercial sectors. She was Education Officer for Adzido and has worked with a diverse range of companies such as Jasmin Vardimon Dance, Common Lore Storytelling and Anglo Dale Property Developments. She thrives on initiating new projects and ventures and has established a dance centre, a gym and a holistic health practice in the past.
Following 6 months of world travel and life review in 2006, Anne-Marie did an MSc in Management Consultancy, gained accreditation in coaching and action learning facilitation and moved out of management into coaching, consultancy and mentoring. Committed to strengthening the arts and creative sector from both bottom up and top down, latest initiatives have included co-founding York Hub (an incubation centre for freelance artists and entrepreneurs) and undertaking a regional level feasibility study into an injury centre for dancers.
Anne-Marie says:
“I am really excited to be joining PANDA. Globally, we are entering a period of stormy waters and I look forward to being part of an organisation that not only seeks to offer anchors for the performing arts, but surf boards so that the sector might benefit from the waves!”
Anne-Marie inherits the legacy left by outgoing PANDA Director, Liz O’Neill, who left the organisation in May to take up the role of Chief Executive at Zion Arts Centre in Manchester. During Liz’s 6 ½ years as founder and Director, she developed PANDA from a pilot project into an organisation with a secure future. PANDA is now a recipient of regular funding from Arts Council England, and is responding to an ever-increasing demand for its project management service. Anne-Marie is enthusiastic about building on these strong foundations and taking the organisation forward into the next chapter of its development.
Chris Lethbridge, Acting Chair, is confident that Anne-Marie is the right person to lead PANDA into the future:
“We are delighted to welcome Anne-Marie to the organisation. Her work to date is both positive and inspirational and she has a wonderful blend of professional experience and personal attributes that make her the ideal figurehead to drive PANDA onwards and upwards.”
Anne-Marie takes up her new post on Monday 6th July 2009. Julia Turpin will stand in as Acting PANDA Manager in the interim period.