Jackie Wylie, the former artistic director of The Arches, has been appointed as the new artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland.
Ms Wylie was at The Arches in Glasgow between 2008 and 2015, a leading European centre for theatre, performance art and other artistic pursuits.
She is the third artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, the second woman to hold the post, and will take up the post in spring next year.
She succeeds Laurie Sansom, who stood down earlier this year after two years in the role.
The Arches, a popular and influential venue in central Glasgow, in the arches underneath Central Station, was shut down in 2015 after pressure from Police Scotland led to the city's Licensing Board to remove its late licence, ending the clubbing events which financially underpinned its cultural programme.
The police said they were concerned over drug use and other issues at the clubbing venue.
Ms Wylie is currently co-director of Take Me Somewhere, a new city-wide festival, based at The Tramway in Glasgow.
She will take over the NTS after it has moved into its first purpose-built headquarters, Rockvilla in north Glasgow.
Ms Wylie said: "It’s an incredible privilege to be given the opportunity to lead the National Theatre of Scotland.
"Ten years ago it 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.
"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.
"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. We are fortunate in Scotland to have so many extraordinary, world-class theatre-makers and I’m looking forward to working with them – on both local and global stages – as we go forward."
Chair of the NTS, Seona Reid, said: "It is with very great pleasure that we welcome Jackie Wylie as the National Theatre of Scotland’s Artistic Director.
"Jackie brings great energy and a passion for theatre-making that is far-reaching and collaborative and we look forward very much to Scotland’s national theatre entering its second decade with her at the helm.
"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."
Ms Wylie was born in Edinburgh and studied Film and Television and Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow.
During her time at The Arches, she worked with Scottish theatre-makers such as Rob Drummond, Cora Bissett, Nic Green and Kieran Hurley who have gone on to win numerous Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS), Herald Angel, Total Theatre and Fringe First awards.
She commissioned work that toured to the National Theatre in London, Barbican, Brits off Broadway New York, Spoleto Festival Charleston, Brighton Festival, Push Festival Vancouver, Cultura Inglesa Festival Brazil, NZ, Sydney, Hong Kong and Luminato Festivals.
Ms Wylie also established The Arches’ annual international festival, Behaviour, with a focus on ground-breaking global companies including The TEAM, Taylor Mac, Peggy Shaw (New York) Mammalian Diving Reflex (Canada), Ontroerend Goed (Belgium), Milo Rau (Switzerland) Gob Squad (Berlin), Pan Pan, Dead Centre, Junk Ensemble (Ireland) Derevo, Akhe (Russia), 1927, Quarantine , Tim Crouch (UK).
During the last eight years, she has been a board member of the Federation of Scottish Theatre and the Glasgay! Festival, an Advisory Board Member of Untitled Projects, advisor to the Buzzcut Festival, a panel member, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Contemporary Performance Practice programme review and a contributor to ‘It’s All Allowed, The Performance Works of Adrian Howells’ edited by Dee Heddon and Dominic Johnson. Prior to that she worked in the film and television industry
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