ACE Open names new artistic director and executive director

In a restructure announced today, current curator Patrice Sharkey will step into a new role as artistic director, having made the move from Melbourne in February to take over from founding curator Toby Chapman. Prior to taking up the curator role Sharkey served as the director of Melbourne’s West Space from 2015-2018, a tenure that included the commissioning of Jason Phu’s my parents met at the fish market, a work which later appeared at ACE Open in 2018.

“I feel honoured and extremely happy to step into the position of ACE Open’s artistic director,” Sharkey says of the news. “This new role will allow me to actively build upon the curatorial perspective I have developed since joining the organisation earlier this year, to lead a creative vision that extends across all of ACE’s programming.”

A new addition to the team is executive director Louise Dunn. The long running executive director of neighbouring cultural hub Nexus Arts, Dunn will make the metres-long journey across Lion Arts Centre after seven years with the organisation.

“I am thrilled to take on this new role as Executive Director of ACE Open and have the opportunity to work for this flagship organisation in an exciting collaborative leadership partnership to deliver transformative art experiences to new audiences,” Dunn says.

Initially founded in 2017 through the merging of two of South Australia’s oldest contemporary arts organisations in the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) and Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF), ACE Open has asserted itself as a vital player in the local and national art landscape. Nowell announced her exit in March following her appointment as director of Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art.

In addition to the current process of renewal ACE Open recently completed a major fundraising campaign to raise $80,000 towards its 2020 South Australian Artist Survey, which saw public donations quadrupled by private donors and Creative Partnerships Australia’s Plus1 initiative.

Sharkey and Dunn will begin their new roles in late July. ACE Open’s current exhibition, Elyas Alavi’s Daydreamer Wolf, concludes July 20.

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Header image:
Sam Roberts